Many years ago, architect Daniel Burnham built the City of Chicago. Well, not personally, maybe—but we Chicagoans owe much to him nonetheless. Having designed the city’s structural backbone, Burnham fashioned Chicago from a Midwestern locale to a true Metropolis, with a unique identity. His hand quite literally drew Chicago up from the ashes of the Great Fire of 1871, officially commemorating its rebuilding from the fire by designing the magnificent White City of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. He truly lived by his words to “Make no small plans,” and he certainly set some big plans in motion for Chicago with these words in mind.
As another year begins, this idea of the Burnham Plan continues to influence Chicago. Just last week, the Chicago Architecture Biennial ended, along with the 2015 Burnham Prize Exhibition. This celebration from the Chicago Architecture Foundation posed the question, "what is the state of the art of architecture today?," while inviting participants to exemplify "how groundbreaking advances in architectural design are tackling the most pressing issues of today."
As we've noted in the past, Burnham is an easy figure for we Chicagoans to consider when trying to address our pressing issues. But the emergent theme in recent years is that Burnham keeps getting used as a decoy. Burnham's 1909 Plan is still so bright and shiny and we are dazzled by the ideas. But we keep avoiding the hard work, and continue to make small plans.
As a city, we mistake the ideas and ideals presented in this Plan for being too dreamlike and unattainable. Rather, Burnham's visions were tender and ordinary, and arose from a true sense of practical need. At a time when economic interest and the public good need unification the most, we can only hope but act on this design that continues to inspire us.