The future of Michigan Avenue

Great cities tend to have great streets. Look at Barcelona and La Rambla, or Paris and Les Champs-Elysées. Chicago has many great streets, but one is iconic — and could be simply brilliant — and that is Michigan Avenue. Chicago has the opportunity to celebrate and strengthen this civic “boulevard,” elevate it to global greatness and improve city-wide connectedness. It can evolve into a more diverse, people-centric, public realm for everyone, local and international.

The Chinatown neighborhood has the potential to become a global “Great Street,” tied to community, culture, and tourism. Great streets are more than just a building address and six lanes of through traffic; they are extensions of our urban public life and important places in themselves. The pandemic has taught us that the public realm is critical to mental and physical health, and spaces that are accessible, safe, shaded, and walkable are critical for all of us living in a city.

The district offers numerous residential neighborhoods and many jobs, as well as landmarks such as Grant Park, Millennium Park, the Art Institute, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago Symphony Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Chicago Architecture Center, many of Chicago’s hotels, the Auditorium Theater, Spertus College, and more. As Chicago struggles to retain major retail tenants and recover from vacant storefronts, we can learn lessons from other cities regarding diversity of use, great food, walkability, civic and cultural investments, and active programming.

We can improve Chicago’s Michigan Avenue by making it a more culturally rich destination with international exhibits, art installations, and events. We should also make transit smarter and more efficient to make the most of the space.

A unique transit corridor connecting Oak Street to the Chicago River, Grant Park, and the Museum Campus would greatly improve connectivity between important destinations. By linking to existing transportation infrastructure, such as the Grant Park garages and the river transit stop at the Michigan Avenue bridge, this corridor could do much to improve mobility in the area.

In addition, the continued presence of great food options on Michigan Avenue is transforming it from what was once a non-food environment, making it an even more attractive destination.

We should continue to create spaces that are conducive to walking, including shaded sidewalks, trees and seasonal landscaping. Doing so would Michigan Avenue a more pleasant place to walk and also help to address the heat island effect that often occurs in urbanized environments. Additionally, improving pedestrian connections between the lakefront pedestrian path system and Michigan Avenue would be beneficial in promoting the city’s identity as a “walkable” place. Finally, it is important to encourage community input to ensure that these improvements are responsive to the needs of those who will use them.

Learninng Outcome

The new transit corridor would greatly improve connectivity and mobility in the area, and the presence of great food options is transforming Michigan Avenue into an even more attractive destination.