Chicago’s South Side has an enduring history, a culturally rich and diverse population, and immense future promise. New development projects, in particular the creation of the Obama Presidential Center, present an unprecedented opportunity to spur new and impactful investments. Capitalizing on this moment requires the combined strengths and support of the public, private, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors of Chicago to revitalize the South Side and, in turn, the city and region. Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative works to ensure that access and opportunities are shared and benefit the residents and business owners who call the South Side home today, specifically the neighborhoods of Washington Park, Woodlawn, and South Shore.

urbanAC has been working with Emerald South since 2019 to guide the organization and shape its agenda. Emerald South aims to foster the growth of existing local businesses and leaders, attract new investment, develop the local workforce, and support inclusive housing. Emerald South recognizes that there is a legacy of community based organizations active in the three target neighborhoods, each with its own track record of success. However, the mission of the Collaborative is to reduce competition between the three communities and instead, create strong alignments to effectuate improvement for all. Emerald South’s mission as an organization works towards:

Shared pride

Shared power

Shared investment

Launched in 2021, Terra Firma is a five-year, $25 million land care initiative to beautify, maintain, and activate over 200 acres of vacant lots on Chicago’s mid-South Side. The work spans three neighborhoods; Washington Park, Woodlawn, and South Shore, and aims to turn a perceived liability (vacant land) into an economic, health and safety asset. Through job training and entrepreneurship programs, Terra Firma directly increases employment and business opportunities for local residents as well as produces measurable community outcomes related to physical, social, and environmental well-being.

urbanAC serves as the lead strategic urban designer and arts and activation consultant. In this role, we led the development of site analysis, site design guidelines, and strategic project management implementation planning for site improvements. Additionally, we help guide the vision for the Arts and Activation scope, including the design, construction and management of a Portrait Pop-up Installation that coincided with the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennale, and the production of community engagement materials.

In the first two years, Terra Firma stabilized 27 acres, employed 20 adults and 44 youth in green industry jobs, awarded $350,000 to MBE-certified contractors, supported 15 local community gardens, engaged over 300 community members in programming, and graduated 12 participants from an entrepreneurship program.

A Community Investment Vehicle uses the civic assets of vacant land and closed schools in the communities of Washington Park, Woodlawn, South Shore, and Grand Crossing as tools to build community and individual wealth for local residents and neighborhoods. A significant part of this land portfolio is imagined to be owned and managed through the development of a neighborhood scale Community Investment Vehicle (CIV) that centers the equity participation of local and Black residents and businesses through ownership, governance, and engagement at all stages of planning. With the goals of creating monetary value for local individuals and the community, the development process of the CIV includes a neighborhood real estate assessment, a socio-cultural-economic neighborhood assessment, financial modeling, neighbor and investor engagement, and an inclusive economic development and impact assessment. Through engagement with multiple community sectors, the process will inform a shared neighborhood vision that centers inclusive ownership and wealth building. The first form of engagement that we developed is a South Side Community Wealth Building game, a play on classic Monopoly in which players work collaboratively to learn about the benefits of a CIV.

urbanAC is a core partner in developing the Community Investment Vehicle framework. In addition to overall research and strategy, we are contributing a vacant land inventory, a development capacity and program test fit, urban design direction, demographic and resident profile analysis, and the participation and engagement strategy.

Over the past several years, we have seen increased attention on the issue of Chicago’s Black population loss, but there has not been a larger public discussion or initiative focused on generating strategies that might repopulate the neighborhoods on the South and West Sides. Driving investment into these communities is critical, and from a residential standpoint, offering a broad range of affordable housing types that are attainable for all incomes will be key to bringing Black Chicagoans home.

The Come Home Chicago project explored infill housing designs in six neighborhoods - Auburn Gresham, Bronzeville, East Garfield Park, Englewood, Humboldt Park, Woodlawn - each with its own distinct history, culture and identity.

urbanAC worked on socioeconomic and cultural analysis, developing neighborhood land narratives that unpack histories and current opportunities, cultural asset mapping, and developing resident avatars to represent profiles of both existing neighborhood residents and potential residents that the program might target to attract.