Metropolitan Planning Council

Founded in 1934, the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) is a cornerstone regional planning organization serving the greater Chicago metropolitan area. MPC seeks to mobilize and apply the region’s assets (people, businesses, local governments, infrastructure, and natural resources) to solve critical regional problems in such areas as housing, transportation, land use, water resources, and community development. In these capacities, MPC provides planning and technical assistance to a wide array of partners ranging from neighborhood organizations, local governmentsm and others to affect change in communities and systemically across the region. Recognizing the demand from local initiatives for MPC’s planning support and technical assistance, this award enables the organization to respond flexibly to requests for support from local organizations and collaborations to provide planning, technical, management and policy support to local initiatives.

The Metropolitan Planning Council is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that develops, promotes, and implements solutions for sound, sustainable growth in the Chicago region. The grant supports the Cost of Segregation study to quantify the costs of segregation for the city and region, and to develop policy recommendations. Specifically, it provides for an expanded analysis to include a more in-depth look at racial segregation alone, and in combination with economic segregation. The project estimates the cumulative costs of racial and economic segregation to all in the Chicago region, not only to low-income people of color living in impoverished neighborhoods. It models an opportunity scenario that tests whether identified costs could be lowered if the city were able to achieve a lower level of residential segregation by 2030. In particular, it explores whether improved housing, land use, and transportation policies attract a mix of populations to more areas.

The Metropolitan Planning Council is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that develops, promotes and implements solutions for sound, sustainable growth in the Chicago region. This grant supports a partnership with the Urban Institute to quantify the costs of economic isolation for the city and region, and to develop policy recommendations that lead to more equitable development, that stimulate job growth, and that bolster the middle class. The project will estimate the cumulative costs of residential concentration by income over the next 15 years, given anticipated demographic changes and trends. It will also model an opportunity scenario that tests whether those costs could be lowered if the city were able to achieve a lower level of residential income segregation by 2030. Finally, it will explore whether housing, land use and transportation policies could be better directed to attract a mix of populations in more areas, in order to achieve greater residential integration.

The Metropolitan Planning Council tackles regional planning challenges through policy research and community-based projects. Affordable rental housing comprises a small share of suburban Cook County’s housing stock, but the need is growing as businesses relocate to the suburbs, and the recent recession and foreclosure crisis have increased demand. Several suburban municipalities are re-thinking their housing policies, shifting from a focus on single-family homeowners to providing a broader mix of housing options, including affordable rental housing. The Council will use this grant to better align the municipal leadership, housing needs, and public and private resources to preserve the County’s suburban affordable rental housing.

The Metropolitan Planning Council is a regional planning organization that serves the greater Chicago metropolitan area. The Calumet region, a 45-square mile area of land and waterways that is metropolitan Chicago’s largest industrial area and one of the most bio-diverse regions of the Midwest, is the subject of significant redevelopment attention. The Council will use this grant to complete an inventory of organizations, projects underway, and the tools and public powers (such as eminent domain and land banking) available to promote Calumet’s redevelopment that will inform efforts to align and accelerate such redevelopment efforts.

With over half of the world’s population currently living in urban areas, cities are critical players in national efforts to recover from the global financial crisis and implement better policies for better lives. Chicago’s Metropolitan Planning Council develops, promotes, and helps implement policy solutions to support an economically-competitive, environmentally-sustainable and socially-equitable Chicago region. With this grant, the Council will help convene an international conference of mayor and ministers, to encourage the broadest debate on how best to leverage a city’s assets to foster more environmentally-sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

To participate in The Preservation Compact (over three years).

In support of the Regional Action Agenda project (over two years).

In support of public education and communications related to progress of the Plan for Transformation as it nears completion (over three years).

In support of the Regional Action Agenda (over three years).

For activities supporting the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation, including public education and communications, developer roundtables, and employer-assisted housing programs (over two years).

To support monitoring and communications activities related to public housing (over two years).

To support the Regional Action Agenda project (over three years).

To support the endowment fund.

To support data development and communications activities related to public housing.

To provide technical assistance to public housing residents, public agencies, and community groups in preparing for the redevelopment of public housing.

To provide public housing residents with reliable information and coordinated Section 8 services.

To support a regional rental housing market study and a public housing dialogue group.

To conduct site visits and to educate Chicago civic and community leaders about employer-assisted housing.

To support the Regional Action Agenda (over three years).

To support the Regional Futures Initiative, which seeks to advance comprehensive tax reform in Illinois (over two years).

To support state recruitment efforts.

To support the Regional Cooperation Initiative (over three years).

To support a planning conference on urban development.

To support the Regional Civic Initiative, addressing issues of public policy and urban planning critical to the future of the Chicago metropolitan area (over three years).

To support planning of the Regional Civic Initiative.

To support the documentation and information dissemination component of the CHA Project.

To support the CHA Project (over two years).

To support the CHA Rehabilitation and Reinvestment Project.

To support a study on the siting and construction of a new stadium in Chicago.

To support the Metro Project.

To support the Regional Agenda Project