With the start of 2021, here on thoughts on the top five posts of 2020 on LegallySociable:

1. Demolish a vacant mall anchor store, build new apartments. This post about possible changes to the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora, Illinois had the most views. The local aspect of the story hints at the local dimensions of this list: #1, #4, and #5 had specific mentions of nearby suburbs.
2. New York City, Los Angeles on different COVID-19 trajectories. With much written about COVID-19’s effect on cities, this post from March 2020 hints at the different ways COVID-19 played out in different communities. This is still a story to watch in 2021.
3. Designing your own Peytonville, Part 1. The Peytonville commercials started in Fall 2019 and I wrote five posts about specific aspects of the ads. The first one was the most popular.
4. When protests make it to the wealthier suburbs, this means… The protests of 2020 took place in many communities, including suburbs. This post discusses the implications of protests moving to wealthier suburbs that are not used to protests.
5. How garbage is moved out of suburbs. Posted just a few days ago, this one looked at the garbage infrastructure in suburban areas but likely received a lot of views due to local disagreement about the possible waste transfer station.

All of these popular posts had something to do with place. This is a primary focus of this blog with a particular emphasis on western suburbs of the Chicago region. The top five posts either involved suburbs or cities. Even as 2020 renewed focus on both locales – with effects from COVID-19 and its effects, police violence and protests, and national and local politics – I would argue that place and communities still do not receive enough attention. My published research attempts to tackle several of these dimensions. It is hard to predict what exactly will be worth posting about in 2021 but I do know I will continue to focus on places.