Community Voices for Community Change in McKinley Park

Coming to urban planning and policy from a career in arts, I am committed to the integration of cultural, communal, and civic infrastructure. My research is rooted in community-led planning processes, progressive economic development, and grassroots expressions. Serving as the Teaching Assistant and Studio Manager for the Master of City Design program's 2022 Chicago Charrette, it was important that this approach extend into the way I helped to facilitate engagement with the McKinley Park community. As part of the Studio’s design of three cutting-edge public infrastructure and civic realm projects, I aimed to creatively capture the voice of residents to drive the process rather than those of the students or potential developers. Ultimately, producing a documentary was one of the strategies I employed to reflect back to residents the beauty, complexity, and diversity of voices that drive this work. This documentary snippet frames the lived experience and imagination of two McKinley Park residents - Kate Eakin and Jessica Fong - as they describe the changing industrial development landscape in their neighborhood. The subsequent plan from this process, entitled ‘35th Street Reimagined: Codesigning Neighborhood Improvements with McKinley Park Neighbors’, received an American Planning Association - Illinois (APA-IL) Student Project Award. It can be explored further at www.sites.google.com/uic.edu/mckinley-park-plan2022/. More information on my research, civic practice, and other projects is available at jennapollack.com.