A CTA Purple Line train passes over a downtown Evanston street. Photo: Eric Fredericks from Rancho Cordova, CA, United States / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Evanston drew national attention in late October when Politico Magazine published a long profile of its approach to development, under the headline ‘The Suburb That Killed the Car.’ The piece ran Oct. 22 as part of the magazine’s ‘What Works’ series, a year-long look at ideas that have succeeded in American cities.
What the article argued
As summarized by Patch and Planetizen, the story describes Evanston as a tree-lined, Victorian-era city between Lake Michigan and Chicago’s northern border that has remade itself into a small city organized around walking, biking and transit rather than driving.
The central claim concerns where new buildings go. According to Patch’s account, new developments are being built within a 10-minute walk of two rail lines and about six bus routes. The magazine reported that the local rate of automobile ownership is nearly half that of the surrounding area.
Planetizen’s excerpt traces the strategy to the 1980s. A 1986 plan set out to create a downtown that stays active around the clock and put resources into raising density there, which was meant to cut the need for cars among the people who live and work nearby.
A model for neighbors
Politico also argued that the approach is spreading. Patch reported that the article says nearby municipalities, Chicago among them, have taken up Evanston’s emphasis on active transportation, and that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has embraced it.
Why the story drew notice
The ‘What Works’ series is a year-long project that looks at policies and ideas that have worked in American cities, and Evanston was chosen for its planning record.
The idea underneath is simple: put housing, offices and shops close to train stations and bus lines, and more people will choose not to own a car, or to drive less. Evanston has Metra, Chicago Transit Authority and Pace service, and the magazine presented its downtown as proof that the pattern can be applied in a place that is not Chicago.
For a city of roughly 75,000 residents, a national feature in a policy-minded magazine was unusual attention. Politico’s editors presented it as an example of a suburb doing something different, and the piece included photographs of the city.
Sources: Patch, Oct. 26, 2015; Planetizen.
Margaret Whitfield is the editor of The Evanston Edge and covers local government, development and neighborhoods.
