Chicago DOH Targeted Blocks Façade Program
Summer 1999
Since 1997 the Chicago Department of Housing’s (DOH)Targeted Blocks
Façade Program has provided funding for rehabilitation of the exteriors
of single family and duplex residential properties located in selected
Chicago areas. DOH works with Neighborhood Housing Services to identify
eligible applicants for a one year forgivable loan to improve their residences.
In June 1999, the DOH asked the City Design Center to provide assistance
to implement a pilot Block Improvement Design Assistance Project. The
intent was to develop a coordinated participatory and sustainable process
that includes the residents’ input into the design and implementation
of building and block improvement measures. In addition, the pilot project
explored the potential for future replication in DOH’s block improvement
programs to achieve coherent block façade improvements. DOH chose
the residents and block club between 105th and 107th Streets along Edbrooke
Street and Michigan Avenue in the Roseland neighborhood for the pilot
project.
The City Design Center, in coordination with the community residents
and the DOH, organized a participatory design process to elicit resident
input at the initial and final stages of the project. In addition, the
Center assessed existing home and neighborhood conditions, identified
priorities for block improvements, and developed a ’pattern book’
of coordinated design choices necessary for rehabilitation. As noted by
George Hemmens, the project had both local and citywide impact: “Community
residents worked in a participatory process to improve their housing and
at the same time the Center had the opportunity to work on improving housing
programs citywide working with DOH.”
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Map of Chicago with project location
Participatory design workshop in
the Roseland neighborhood for the Chicago DOH Targeted Blocks Facade Program
Site map of target blocks for the
Chicago DOH Targeted Blocks Facade Program.
Examples of potential block imporvement
strategies for the targeted blocks.
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City Design Center Affiliated Faculty and Staff
Current
Bruno Ast, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, and Associate
Dean, College of Architecture and the Arts
Tasneem Chowdhury, Affordable Housing Program Coordinator, City Design
Center
Tom Forman, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Architecture, and
Associate Director, City Design Center
Former
George Hemmens, Professor, Urban Planning and Policy Program, and former
Co-Director, City Design Center
Collaborating Organizations
Chicago Department of Housing
Edbrooke Block Club
Neighborhood Housing Services
Funding
Chicago Department of Housing
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