Policy Reccomendations

If efforts to reverse the negative impacts that historical urban planning has had on community trust and sense of ownership so often accidentally reinforce residents’ negative perceptions, are they worth continuing to pursue? The answer is a resounding yes. As this research has demonstrated, despite the mistrust and challenges to engagement, there is still hope from residents who wish to engage with the city in shaping their communities; their participation has the potential to ensure that cities are made for residents to thrive rather than just survive in. Therefore, I have some policy suggestions that the city of Chicago and other cities that seek to address these issues within their community, could adopt to better address the challenges outlined in this research.

Increase Communal Ownership Opportunities

Current policies that draw a sharp line between vacant land that can be sold and vacant land that is waiting for a greater purpose miss out on partnering with the residents who are interested in beautifying their community in the present. Rather than banning for sale land that alderman want to eventually use, short term leases where both parties understand the land use will be re-evaluated after some time would create more opportunities for communal land ownership in communities on the South and West sides that are underrepresented in public parks and overrepresented in underused and “no one owns” land. This provides more opportunities for communal and personal ownership to be formed. It also can improve trust by reducing the number of visual reminders residents have about the city’s previous failures and presents an opportunity for the city to communicate transparently with residents.

Centralize Information Sharing

Some aldermen have websites, some have Facebook pages, some have mailing lists, and some have nothing. On top of that, many relics from previous administrations remain online, and the same is true for smaller neighborhood organizations. Altogether, the landscape of information for residents who are interested in getting involved or providing feedback to the city is quite confusing. The city should seek to centralize information sharing from aldermen to their constituents to make it less confusing for residents to get involved, especially those that are new to the area. This will resonate with residents’ desire for increased transparency, and potentially increase trust. Increasing residents’ knowledge of engagement efforts could also increase turnout at these events and improve individual sense of ownership over the neighborhood.

Partner with Apartment Complexes

What if renting residents, as a part of the paperwork they receive when moving to a new apartment, were informed of the local neighborhood organizations and ways that the alderman communicates with people in that ward? If relationships like these were pursued and established by community organizers and the city council members, it would overcome one of the major barriers described by residents I spoke with regarding challenges to renters’ contribution. This would be even easier to do if information was centralized, as recommended above.

Innovate New Methods of Contribution

Once ownership and trust are addressed, there is still the issue of accessibility. While there are now often opportunities for residents to hop on a Zoom call to learn about what’s happening in their neighborhood and contribute feedback, which is an improvement on the accessibility of previously solely in-person meetings, there is still room to expand the methods available for residents to contribute. For example, residents that work hours that prevent them from joining a Zoom call or in-person community meeting, may benefit from online, asynchronous forums for contribution and discussion. The innovation of new methods like these could lead to more residents regularly sharing their feedback on small initiatives happening around them.

We are in the process of developing an online feedback platform that does just that. Learn more at www.zonesync.org, or click the button below.

Do you have a policy idea that you think resonates with this research? Submit it below for the chance to have it added to this site. In the Subject field, write “Policy Recommendation".