FACT SHEET: How "Invent the Future" public input helped shape the GO TO 2040 draft preferred Regional Scenario
Residents across the seven-county region helped to "Invent the Future" from May to September 2009 via public outreach by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), which is developing GO TO 2040, the official comprehensive plan to guide development and infrastructure.
Click here to read a CMAP news release summarizing this phase of public input. More than 20,000 participants shared consistent priorities for the region's future: more transit options, compact land development, reduced energy and water consumptions, and more parks and open space. Residents weighed in via interactive GO TO 2040 web tools, workshops, kiosks and booths at community festivals. (Click here to see a map of where workshops, festival booths, and kiosks were hosted across northeastern Illinois).
This public input, combined with extensive research conducted by CMAP via dozens of strategy papers and Regional Snapshot reports, has shaped the draft "preferred Regional Scenario," which is open for public comment before being submitted to the CMAP Board for approval in January 13, 2010.
The following text and charts describe the public input and how it is reflected in the draft preferred Regional Scenario. These questions were posed to over 3,700 residents in workshops and on-line. To read more about the results of the public engagement phase, read the full Invent the Future report.
Development Density CMAP asked Invent the Future participants:
"What type of new development should we encourage?" The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends development that is more compact and for mixed-use, livable communities to serve as the building blocks of our region's future development. Denser development will help increase affordability while minimizing household transportation costs. More about Development Density:
Density means how many people or buildings are in an area. Higher density means homes and businesses are located closer to one another. Homes are closer together on smaller lots or concentrated in taller buildings. A benefit to higher density is that communities become more walkable. |
| CMAP asked Invent the Future participants:
"Where should we encourage new development?" The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends strengthening existing communities and that growth occur as reinvestment, or in areas within existing communities across the region that are already served by infrastructure.
More about Development Location:
Developing in community and metropolitan centers would encourage development in many existing communities so that more housing would be near job centers, shops and services. |
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CMAP asked Invent the Future Participants:
"How should we manage our natural resources?"
The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends the use of resource conservation measures to reduce consumption of energy and water, while also improving the region's high-quality system of parks and open space. This will include a focus on green design for new developments and buildings, energy codes to guide new development, retrofits or renovations of existing buildings, and support for the growth of green jobs and industry.
Resource conservation is only part of the solution. Cleaner energy sources are needed to power buildings, and cleaner fuels and more efficient vehicles must be part of the solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.
Many of these improvements, in addition to imparting environmental benefits, also reduce energy costs for households and businesses, increasing affordability. The plan will also treat farmland and food supply as an important natural resource, and will emphasize local food production and access to fresh food as a means to reduce energy consumption, improve health and the natural environment, support the agricultural economy, and increase a sense of community.
More about Environmental Policy:
Water, air, energy, and the overall environment are central to quality of life. There are important choices about which programs to implement for protecting or conserving these resources for generations to come. |
CMAP asked Invent the Future participants:
"How much should we invest in transit?"
The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends making additional investments in transit and freight, using innovative and sustainable finance and system management ideas, and encouraging choices that result in livable, transit-supportive communities.
Transportation system investments and improved jobs-housing balance is expected to increase job access.
More about Transit Investment:
Investments in transit determine how many travelers the train and bus systems can handle. |
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CMAP asked Invent the Future participants:
"How much should we invest in roads?"
The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends transportation investments and a denser land use pattern to reduce congestion. The region's traffic congestions is among the worst in the nation, with negative impacts on the economy, environment, and quality of life.
To increase quality-of-life across the region, participants in the public input phase felt it was imperative to reduce the amount of time individuals spend traveling from place to place within the region. While there was some agreement that roads need to be enhanced, there was no clear answer regarding how much. However, it is significant that at least 70 percent of participants want at least a moderate increase in road investment.
More about Road Investment:
Investments in roads determine how many cars and trucks the system can handle. |
| CMAP asked Invent the Future participants:
"What transporation policies should we encourage?"
The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends planning multi-modally for transportation and making transportation investments (see above) targeted to clear economic and environmental outcomes, while finding more sustainable ways to finance infrastructure improvements. Providing transportation options will increase the use of public transportation, non-motorized travel modes (walking and biking), and carpooling. Allowing more use of these transportation modes can reduce congestion, improve the natural environment, and create more livable communities. The Regional Scenario is expected to increase the use of alternative transportation modes through its investments in transportation improvements and denser, mixed-use development pattern.
The Regional Scenario is also expected to improve air quality through increased use of transit and non-motorized transportation modes.
More about Transportation Policy:
Favor driving would mean more (and less expensive) parking in lots, garages, and on the street. Favor alternatives would improve facilities for transit, walking, and biking, with less (and more expensive) parking.
Press Contact
Justine Reisinger (312-386-8802 or jreisinger@cmap.illinois.gov) Program Contact
Erin Aleman (312-386-8816 or ealeman@cmap.illinois.gov) December 8, 2009 |
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