Crossing Lines

The Altenheim Line Framework Plan centers on the elevated freight rail running through the North Lawndale and Garfield Park community areas, creating the framework for a future “rails and trails” park. The Framework Plan guides industrial & commercial development and a residential housing strategy to bring new vibrancy and stability to the neighborhood and avoid the displacement pressure that has occurred around previous amenities like the 606. The rail is owned by CSX Transportation, constructed in 1886. Access to the route was key for Sears, Roebuck, and Company, whose campus was constructed right along the rail’s right-of-way. The “Altenheim Line” is a placeholder name for the future rails and trails project, borrowing the name of this segment of rail that runs through Homan Square. See more about the history of the historic campus here: https://www.madeinchicagomuseum.com/single-post/sears-roebuck/

A flying landmark itself - you can catch a sighting of it TONIGHT at 6:07 PM. The ISS is a science lab that does tests and studies various aspects of our planet and outer space. They use data from ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), which measures subtle changes in temperature in plants and provides insight into land management, urban heat island detection and mitigation, drought, aquatic ecosystem and habitat assessment, thermal pollution from power plants, shellfisheries and coastal vegetation stress and risk, wildfires, public health, and geothermal and geology hazards. In addition to the ISS, there are 7,702 satellites and counting flying above us on various paths at all times. Satellites track and monitor our movements and this data is used to guide how people move through our built environment today. See a simulation of these satellites here: https://satellitemap.space/?constellation=starlink

Created by the Institute for Linear Research (ILR) in 2017, THE LINE connects Liechtenstein to Venice, Italy and then continues around the globe. Anyone can walk THE LINE and document their experience by sending any findings to the ILR. Linear Research is based on imposing non-effective, imaginary lines on contemporary landscapes. Not to be confused with its conceptual opposite: effective lines, such as territorial borders. Methods of Linear Research include, but are not limited to Linear Walking and Linear Mapping. You can preview the ILR’s upcoming publication about walks that took place in the Midwest (Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) at their table in Nichol’s Tower.

Redlining was a practice of using data and evaluations that assigned grades of residential neighborhoods to reflect that neighborhood’s “mortgage security” for real estate professionals such as lenders, developers, and real estate appraisers. Actively used between 1935-1940, the practice was created by the federal agency, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. (Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers, accessed November 14, 2023, https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/)

The Scharf Map, created in 1901, maps the trails used by Native Americans and trade routes through the Village of Chicago and Cook, DuPage, and Will Counties, IL. These ancient trails were started on low ridges left behind by receding glaciers that converge at the mouth of the Chicago River. Although Chicago’s city planning overlays a grid amongst a natural landscape, a few key streets can be found following the paths walked by the people before us: Ogden Avenue following the Portage Trail, Barry Point Trail later became 5th avenue, and Lake Street that once was the Lake Street Trail. These connect the Chicago River with the DesPlaines River and beyond.

The expressway started construction in 1955 and continued into the 80s. It was named in honor of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who conceived the original Interstate Highway System idea based on the German Autobahn. Its construction within Chicago resulted in the displacement of 13,000 individuals and the destruction of 400 businesses. The expressway replaced a rapid transit line from 1895 called the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad. The Garfield Park branch was demolished for I-290 and replaced with the CTA Blue Line in the median. Despite being Chicago's first central expressway and costing $183 million and displacing thousands of residents, the project did not effectively address traffic congestion. Source: https://interactive.wbez.org/curiouscity/eisenhower/