On October 30, CLCR Executive Director Dan Swinney gave a presentation at a Cornell University School of Architecture and Urban Planning colloquium. The event was organized by Dr. Pierre Clavel, noted urban development guru and author of Reinventing Cities: Equity Planners Tell Their Stories.
Swinney summarized the industrial retention efforts of CLCR and the frequent obstacles presented by traditional practices in the field of urban planning. He pointed to the limits of urban planning, which is narrowly focused on land assemblage and design, as well as traditional community development practices that focused on commercial development and real estate.
In cities like Chicago, the foundations of industrial base were being dramatically eroded due to Low Road investment and management practices, as well as the challenges like succession of ownership in small firms. It was this process of de-industrialization that gave rise to the deep urban poverty we see in so many cities. It was a trend of de-industrialization that could have been prevented and reversed by urban planners and community developers if they had focused on the true health of the manufacturing sector.
Swinney went on to argue that advanced manufacturing had to be the foundation of our economy going forward if we are to rebuild our middle class, end poverty, and restore the environment. We have a competitive in making complex products that has to be extended if we are to have a sustainable society. Transforming our education system is a key step.
Swinney then summarized the program and vision of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council that calls for Chicago to be the “global leader in manufacturing complex products” and described the features of Austin Polytech Academy-a new career and college prep high school on the West Side of Chicago linked to advance metal working.
Students were impressed with the positive comprehensive vision that had such a practical side and posed lots of questions and observations. Clavel and Swinney will be writing a joint article summarizing the vision and its implications for the field of urban planning.
