Chicago's downtown loop
Complementary zoning
Value clusters
Density
Connections
Chicago near 55th and state
Conflicting zoning
Isolation
Sparsity
Separations
Comparing the Chicago loop with a blighted area on the south side. These two areas have similar amounts of rail, similar scale of street grid, and are close in proximity. How is it that one is highly successful and the other is crumbling?
Zone Organization: The loop has a core zone that encompasses all programs and types needed to maintain both its functions. It is augmented by individually planned developments that provide special additions, these special zones cluster around infrastructure nodes.
Zoning in the south is sporadic and fragmented, there are several zones that conflict and segregate. There are no zoned hubs and no orientation towards transportation. There is no overall organizational theme.
Infrastructure Orientation: Use of the elevated rail in the loop is extremely dense, each connecting node overlaps with its neighbors, and there are many routes that share the same tracks. Each overlapping hub is close enough that together they provide an interconnected network.
In the south some businesses are oriented toward a single rail station, however there is no overlap. There are car-oriented businesses but they do not overlap or connect to the rail network. Hubs are spaced too far apart to connect with each other.