Imagine if all communities had the capacity to address their economic and community development challenges and plan for the future efficiently and effectively. Instead of being trapped by “either-or” budget decisions, such as whether to maintain core services for residents or update their business attraction and retention strategy, what if local leaders combined resources with their neighbors so that they could connect struggling families to resources and secure new job opportunities? Rather than duplicating efforts, what if communities worked across municipal borders to take full advantage of shared assets, such as rail lines, and to revitalize their interdependent housing and job markets? Imagine the efficiencies this could create, not only for the communities themselves, but also for private sector developers, area employers, and financial institutions, as well as policymakers and county, regional, state and federal governments.
In metropolitan Chicago, through a groundbreaking collaborative approach to planning and community development, three clusters of suburbs are starting to see that all of this is possible. These three clusters – in Cook County’s south, west and northwest suburbs – have been implementing a unified strategy for attracting and investing resources for nearly three years, demonstrating the promise of this burgeoning model known as interjurisdictional collaboration.
Significant work remains to ensure these clusters are on strong footing. This paper points to policy reforms and best practices needed to support the success of these pioneers, and to make it easier for this model to be replicated across metropolitan Chicago and other U.S. regions.
Most recent
- MPC Roundtable—Tough Stuff: Resilient Infrastructure in a Changing World
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- Presentation
- May 17, 2013
- Slides from the May 15, 2013 MPC Roundtable on resilient infrastructure.
MPC Roundtable—Tough Stuff: Resilient Infrastructure in a Changing World-
- Slideshow
- (9 slides)
- May 15, 2013
MWRD Weather Monitoring Center-
- Slideshow
- (4 slides)
- May 13, 2013
MPC Roundtable—Immeasurable Loss: Modernizing Lake Michigan Water Use-
- Audio-only recording of May 7, 2013 MPC Roundtable—Immeasurable Loss: Modernizing Lake Michigan Water Use. A video recording is also available.
MPC Roundtable—Immeasurable Loss: Modernizing Lake Michigan Water Use-
- Slideshow
- (8 slides)
- May 8, 2013
MPC Roundtable—Immeasurable Loss: Modernizing Lake Michigan Water Use-
- Video
- (1:21:42)
- May 7, 2013
- During every moment of every day, northeastern Illinois is losing Lake Michigan water -- and with it, the money rate payers contributed to pumping, treating ...
Immeasurable Loss: Modernizing Lake Michigan Water Use-
- Publication
- (6 MB)
- May 7, 2013
- Download infographics from report (EPS and PNG formats, 2.4MB)
The Chicago area is privileged to be situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, the third largest of the Great Lakes, which altogether account for 20 percent of the world’s readily available freshwater. Lake Michigan supports a…
- MPC Roundtable—Immeasurable Loss: Modernizing Lake Michigan Water Use
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- Button above: Josh Ellis' introductory slides from the May 7, 2013 MPC Roundtable Immeasurable Loss: Modernizing Lake Michigan Water Use.
Also available for download: Slides from the other speakers, Dan Injerd of Ill. Dept. of Natural Resources and Mike Smyth of Illinois American Water.
2013 Leadership Appreciation Reception-
- Slideshow
- (39 slides)
- Apr 15, 2013
Shops and Lofts at 47 Groundbreaking-
- Slideshow
- (19 slides)
- Apr 3, 2013