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I space exhibition examines evolution of diverse Chicago neighborhoods
Melissa
Mitchell, U. of I. News Bureau arts writer
217-333-5491
Mary Antonakos, I space coordinator
312-587-9976
6/6/2006
|
CHAMPAIGN, Ill.
— A new exhibition that explores how socially diverse neighborhoods
in Chicago have emerged and continue to evolve will be on view June
9 through 30 at I space, the
Chicago gallery of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“The Design of Diversity,” curated by U. of I. urban
and regional planning professor Emily Talen, draws attention to
recently completed research she and her students conducted in the city
as part of a community
design workshop.
Talen, the author of the recently published book “New Urbanism
and American Planning: The Conflict of Cultures,” said the exhibition
“probes the kinds of places social diversity inhabits, how this
diversity can be explained, and what the physical context of diversity
means – for residents who live there, for the viability of diverse
neighborhoods, and for the planners and designers who want to support
them.” The work, she said, is concerned not only with explaining
the form and pattern found in these neighborhoods, but also in understanding
how urban design and planning can be used to sustain them.
The I space exhibition will consist of a series of panels with images
and text describing ways in which diversity can be maintained in Chicago’s
West Town, Hillside, Back of the Yards/Canaryville, Albany Park, Near
North Side and Uptown neighborhoods. An audio-video loop will feature
interviews with residents sharing their thoughts about where they live.
The exhibition opens at 3 p.m. on June 9 with a panel discussion, “Diversity
in Chicago Neighborhoods.”
Speakers will be U. of I. landscape
architecture professor Dianne Harris, Columbia University urban
planning professor Peter Marcuse and Loyola University sociology professor
Philip Nyden. An opening reception follows from 4-7 p.m.
I space is located at 230 W. Superior St., Chicago. Gallery hours are
Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
