Drawn to Action: Art & Design for Civic Engagement

MPC launches an illustrated guide to zoning and land use in Chicago

Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) is excited to release our latest community-based publication, In the Zone: A Chicagoan’s Guide to Zoning and Land Use, available as a hard copy and downloadable resource in English, Spanish, and simplified Chinese.

MPC, with the support of a group of community advisors, created this zine (small circulation, graphic “magazine”) to demystify the complexities of zoning and land use and provide Chicagoans with the knowledge and resources needed to be informed, engaged, and successful in impacting change in their neighborhoods. We’re hoping that the zine will help residents and community organizations understand and navigate zoning—what it is, where it came from, and how it works here in Chicago. This guide is not a definitive resource to zoning. Instead, it’s a starting point—a toolkit to use, share, and discuss with others in and outside your community.

With visuals from Chicago illustrator, Lucie Van der Elst, and graphic designer, Carolyn Schiffner, the zine represents a tangible way that art and graphics can be used to make information more accessible. By highlighting key take-aways in a digestible way, sharing case studies with illustrations, and introducing characters, like Zena, to showcase real-life experiences or challenges with navigating the zoning process, the zine can be used to clarify complex information and inform readers. Information about what is (and isn’t) involved in zoning and land use processes can be incredibly confusing. In the same way, it can be challenging to understand the nuanced ways that those processes shape community development, resident experiences, and public health. By making as much of that information as clear, simple (while still being accurate), and visually interesting as possible, and also by translating the zine into other languages*, we hope that this zine can be a useful tool that informs residents and informs change. Just as we were inspired by zines and zine-inspired materials, we also hope that In the Zone can be a resource that inspires a creative approaches to similar projects that seek to share information in the most effective ways.

The development of this zine is part of MPC’s work on our Zoning and Land Use Assessment and Recommendations initiative where we are assessing the ways that equity, public health, and sustainability are impacted by Chicago’s zoning and land use policies and practices.

* As of August 2025, In the Zone has been translated into Spanish and simplified Chinese. These languages were identified and prioritized by the Community Advisory Group.