Make no little plans

1909 Plan of Chicago

I moved to California (the greatest State in the greatest Nation)
from Chicago (the greatest City in the greatest Nation)

During my time in Chicago, I saw a thing or two and learned a thing or two. We lived, naturally, in the greatest Neighborhood in the greatest City in the greatest Nation - Logan Square. There we watched the obsolete Bloomingdale Line blossom into the Bloomingdale Trail, part of The 606 linear park & trail network. We watched the transformative power of gentrification and engaged with community members to wrestle with the pros & cons of this seemingly unstoppable process. We attended community meetings where NIMBYs hurled “parking concerns” to unsuccessfully oppose restoration of a dilapidated restaurant that, of course, turned out to be awesome (the owners even converted the patio into an ice skating rink during those cold Chicago winters!).

Of course, here I am willfully exposing my bias - I prioritize positive change over stagnation. Not everyone appreciates this attitude, and that’s okay. I understand that change is hard. But, you see, resistance to change rarely results in lack of change. More often than not it simply results in change for the worse. Entropy is a bitch.

Anyway, one of the tallest figures in the City of Broad Shoulders was the legendary Daniel Burnham, whose 1909 Plan of Chicago set the stage for the city to take the spotlight. Chicago was undergoing extraordinary growth, and had already rebuilt itself after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, inventing the modern skyscraper in the process.

Chicago didn’t do everything right, of course. The Chicago River was once so polluted it literally caught fire (twice!). Instead of cleaning up its act, it simply changed the course of the Chicago River to divert the pollution away from Lake Michigan (the city’s drinking water!) and instead send it down stream to become someone else’s problem. Shameful.

Nonetheless, Daniel Burnham’s plan for the modern urban development of Chicago provided many spectacular gems to be enjoyed by countless generations to come. One of the lines for which Burnham has become famous is:

“Make no little plans”

Although lesser known, the rest of this quote is equally insightful:

”Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized.

Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency.

Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.”