Category Archives: Places

When a suburb declines a train station along a proposed passenger line

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The Chicago suburb of Huntley is a little more than 50 miles from downtown Chicago. With the planned opening of a new passenger rail line from Chicago to Rockford, here is how city officials responded:

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Huntley officials confirmed Friday that the village has decided against having a train station come to town.

Huntley had been slated to have a stop on the Chicago-to-Rockford rail line that’s expected to start operations by 2027, but the village recently notified project leaders they no longer wanted a station.

Village officials cited potential parking and traffic issues, among other things, downtown as well as uncertainty with ridership numbers and village financial commitments…

In nearby Marengo, which isn’t scheduled to have a train stop despite the rail line going through the center of town, the City Council has expressed its support for having the train stop there.

For a long time, suburbs would have wanted a stop on a commuter rail line. This offers nearby residents – in the particular community with a stop but also residents in nearby communities – opportunities to go to the city. Not having a train station means other communities could benefit from the commuting options and the business and residential opportunities that might go with it.

But the reasons cited above suggest a railroad today might be seen as more trouble than its worth for suburban communities. Parking and traffic concerns come up with any new development. Ridership and money figures could be hard to forecast.

I wonder if another matter at play is the rapid growth of the community in the last few decades. As late as 2000, the suburb had 5,730 residents. In the 2020 Census, the community has 27,740 residents. Would a train line contribute to that change? Might it encourage denser development around a train station, something that has happened near numerous Chicago suburban train stations?

Also, the community already has transportation options. It is along a major highway, I-90, to and from Chicago. Residents can access train lines to Chicago in the nearby suburbs of Elgin or Cary, roughly 25 minutes drive away, if they really want a train.

Still, I wonder if the suburb will regret not having a train stop. The train will run through the community anyway; would a train station disrupt life that much and/or might it add something for residents?

Record office vacancy rate in Chicago’s Loop

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Over a quarter of the office space in Chicago’s Loop is empty:

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The vacancy rate in the Loop was 24.7% in the second quarter of 2025 — a record high, according to research from commercial real estate firm Bradford Allen. That’s up 1.3% from the first quarter, and a 2.7% increase compared to the second quarter of 2024.

The firm said the second quarter was also one of the weakest periods for overall office demand since the beginning of 2024. Direct net absorption, a measure of space that’s been leased versus vacated over a period of time, hit negative 1.5 million square feet. That means more companies vacated than leased office space in the second quarter…

But it’s reassuring to see more foot traffic in the Loop, and he said more companies are requesting office tours for larger spaces, signaling strong interest in the Loop. He also said his firm is doing more office and retail deals downtown.

Leasing activity is starting to return after companies pulled back on signing larger leases during the pandemic. There’s a lot of larger tenants in the office market right now, and it feels promising, DeMoss said.

Each time I teach Urban Sociology, we consider the famous concentric circles map of Chicago produced by the Chicago School. At the middle of the map is the Loop, the central business district. For decades, it has been an economic center for the city. With its placement at the center, it represents the importance of economic activity in the big cities of today.

But what if the Loop became something else? The vacancy rate cited above suggests about one-quarter of the office space is empty. In a setting where there is a lot of office space overall, this adds up to a lot of space. What if this space was used differently?

This could be a shift toward more residential units in the Loop. Mixed-use development is popular in many places as it can help create a 24-hour vibrancy that can be lacking in places primarily consisting of office space used during workday hours.

But it could also mean a shift toward other land uses. More food and retail spaces? More recreational and cultural spaces? More community and municipal spaces? Less need for parking spaces?

While the record vacancy rate gets the headlines, it would be interesting to hear more about people and institutions that could help shape the future. What will the Loop be in 10 or 25 years and does this hint at shifts across many American cities?

Considering a community’s “moral geography”

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A resident of Harrisonburg, Virginia walks through the community and consider the moral implications of its design:

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Today, as in the century-old photo in my hand, the rail bends out of sight just beyond a wooden bridge. A brick warehouse still flanks the right side of the track, though offices now peer through its rows of windows. To my left, the changes are starker. Where the train platform once extended welcome and permitted leave-taking, the blank face of the local jail looms overhead. Razor wire and surveillance cameras stand vigil. The pride of the city at its inauguration in 1911, Union Station is now a faint memory. In its place stands a depot of another infrastructure project: our national network of prisons, jails, and detention centers…

I remember Gilmore and the jail’s residents as I walk toward Court Square, at the heart of this small city. A domed pavilion stands on the corner. The waters that flowed from a spring here made this a place of gathering and relief long before any dream of a city or courts. For generations, many Indigenous peoples, including the Monacan, have made the Shenandoah Valley a place of dwelling and struggle, provision, and exchange. Though European arrival transformed land into possession and fixed new boundary lines upon it and upon our hearts, ancient routes still guide our movement through this valley. Early roads followed the trails of Indigenous peoples, as did the railways. Today, a federal interstate channels commerce and transit along similar paths…

These spasms are more than historical artifacts or chance misfortunes on the road to progress. They shape our national history, the places we live, and how we move. Nearly a century after Harris’s death, the civil rights movement challenged Jim Crow laws and won significant advances toward desegregation and legal equality. Meanwhile, racial and class separation were being further inscribed upon the land itself. Three signature construction projects characterized this reactionary spatial reordering of the postwar and civil rights era: the suburb, the interstate highway system, and the carceral archipelago. Together with their complementary social and physical infrastructure, these institutions map an enduring moral geography that guides how we live and move in the world…

There are no quick fixes or universal remedies. But if we’re willing to dream new dreams together, there are tools we can learn to use to refashion the places we live into places of shared thriving. In the Shenandoah Valley, we are reckoning with our liability for supremacist land use planning and the historic destruction of housing. Community groups are participating in comprehensive zoning and regulatory reviews in hopes of spurring affordable housing and increasing neighborhood economic integration. Networks of mutual aid and community safety are warming up to keep immigration enforcement from tearing us apart. Families are organizing bike buses for schoolkids. Cooperatives, cohousing, bail funds, and community land trusts are forming to practice new ways of being free together in the land. Everyday people are taking risks and making sacrifices to redesign our lives in this place for connection, care, and joy.

Our building and planning choices reflect decisions made by leaders and residents. These decisions have moral dimensions; they are not just practical matters or problem-solving exercises but rather are the result of humans enacting meanings in a setting. Answering “What makes a good community?” is a moral question that then affects all sorts of discussions and decisions.

I appreciate that the article both acknowledges the past processes that led to our settings today and reminds us that we participate in shaping our communities today. If we find that we do not like the moral geography we have today, there are opportunities to develop a different moral geography.

It would also be interesting to hear how others in the community understand and respond to the past and current moral geography. How many people notice these moral dimensions? Who benefits from the existing moral geography? Is there consensus about what the moral geography could be in a decade or 50 years?

The lingering reminders of the railroads that once marked Chicago’s lakefront

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In its early history, Chicago’s shoreline with Lake Michigan was marked by railroad lines and activities. Trains pulled right up to the Chicago River, moving goods to the center of the city and its thriving port. You can see a late nineteenth century images of the lines of the Illinois Central right along the water here and here.

Today, it is harder to see evidence of the bustling railroad activity. The city still has sizable railyards and a large amount of railroad traffic. But it is now largely outside of the Loop and more railroad activity has been pushed to the edges of the metropolitan region.

I recently found a spot where an observer can still get a hint of the important railroad activity that marked the lakefront:

This passenger line comes into the central part of the city from the south and its station is underground. This angle gives a broader view of the tracks and the infrastructure needed to move trains and people.

The major cities of the United States, including Chicago, are still dependent on railroad lines. The average resident of a region may only travel via car and visitors from further away may primarily arrive via airplane but the railroad lines continue to deliver large amounts of goods and resources. Their presence may be less visible but keeping the trains running on time in and around cities still matters.

Local control is essential to understanding American suburbs

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The mayor of Naperville thanked the City Council for not supporting a proposal that regional transit authorities could develop land within half a mile of train stations. He explained his opposition this way (via his Scott Wehrli for Naperville Facebook page):

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I’m proud of our City Council for standing together in opposition of this legislation that would give transit agencies the power to control development within a half-mile of our train stations—taking that authority away from the local officials you elected.

In Naperville, development decisions should be made by our community, through our City Council, not by transit agencies in Chicago. Local control has always been the foundation of our city’s success, and we’ll continue to protect it.

This is a good example for why I included local control as one of the seven reasons that Americans love suburbs. Suburban residents and leaders want to be able to make decisions about local land and monies as they see fit. They can resent when decision-making involving their land and money takes place elsewhere, particularly if it goes against what the suburban community wants or is perceived to be a threat to an established way of life.

This particular case involves transportation and land development. A popular idea in numerous cities and suburbs is to construct transit-oriented development which often involves higher residential densities adjacent to mass transit stops and a reduced number of parking spaces required. A number of Chicago suburbs have pursued this in recent decades; trains going in and out of Chicago pass apartments and condos in suburban downtowns.

But the key for many of these suburbs is that they made these decisions regarding development around train stations. These conversations often included debate about the size of new buildings and the number of units involved. How tall is too tall for a suburban downtown? How many units will be erected? What is the target population for these new developments?

Leaders and residents in Naperville and suburbs across the United States might pursue denser development near mass transit but they want to make the decision and steer development in ways they feel is consistent with the existing character and footprint of their community.

(I would also argue that local control is closely linked to the other six reasons Americans love suburbs.)

“End of Beginning” and Chicago

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One song popular in the last few years, “End of Beginning,” references Chicago in its chorus:

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And when I’m back in Chicago, I feel it
Another version of me, I was in it
I wave goodbye to the end of beginning

This song is “End of Beginning” by Djo, an artist name for Joe Keery who went to college in Chicago and then later left for New York City:

In a recent interview, the Newburyport, Massachusetts, native said he’s “excited” to get back to Chicago, where he studied theater at DePaul University.

Besides performing at Lollapalooza, he said he has plans to catch up with old friends and may even hit up Allende Restaurant, just steps away from the Lincoln Park campus. And at the top of his mind is a dip into Lake Michigan at Montrose Beach…

The last time the Sun-Times spoke with Keery, “End of Beginning” was one of the most popular sounds on TikTok. Though the song was released in 2022, fans made edits using the popular verse: “And when I’m back in Chicago, I feel it.”

It’s a song about closing the chapter on his life in Chicago before moving to New York City.

On one hand, the song seems to speak of good experiences in Chicago. The artist says he is looking forward to being in Chicago.

On the other hand, Chicago is the place before going to the real place of success: New York City. The singer may like Chicago but he finds fame elsewhere. One of Chicago’s nicknames is “The Second City” and this may have originated in its status behind New York. But now, those in acting or entertainment may need to go to New York or Hollywood/Los Angeles to make it big. Chicago might be a place to be when you are young but these larger coastal cities have a ability to launch you into the stratosphere.

For a number of American places, you could put together interesting playlists that speak to the character and music of a community. Add this song to the list of songs about Chicago and I am always interested in songs that namecheck specific places.

If the population growth of Atlanta has slowed, where are people going instead?

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Recent data suggests that Atlanta is growing more slowly than in the past:

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Census data show more people from within the U.S. left metro Atlanta than moved to it during the 12 months that ended in mid-2024. It was a modest decline, about 1,330 people. But it heralds a significant moment for the longtime growth magnet: This is the first time metro Atlanta lost domestic migrants since the Census Bureau started detailing these numbers three decades ago.

If people are not moving to the Atlanta, where are they going instead? Here are some hints:

Growth in some other big Sunbelt metros has slowed, too, after pandemic-fueled population surges, including around Phoenix and Tampa, Fla., the census data show. Recent Bank of America change-of-address data also show big metros in the region losing steam…

“We just couldn’t afford to live there and have the lifestyle we wanted,” said Adelia Fish, 29 years old, who left suburban Atlanta with her husband in May for a newly built, three-bedroom home in Chattanooga, Tenn…

Whether that big-metro slowdown continues remains to be seen. But census data also indicate many smaller regions in the South—places like Huntsville, Ala., Wilmington, N.C., and Knoxville and Chattanooga in Tennessee—are picking up the slack. Their metros are all running ahead of pre-Covid trends.

The article hints at multiple reasons for this:

  1. Bigger metropolitan regions like Atlanta have advantages but they are at a point where the costs of living there are now higher – housing costs, traffic, limited housing options.
  2. Smaller metro areas can provide cheaper housing and a smaller scale.
  3. Certain jobs or careers are portable or can be done in multiple places, not just in the biggest metro areas.

What does this do to Atlanta and other places that have been used to growth for decades? It is about status – we are on the rise! – and about planning – continued demand for land and buildings leads to different options.

If these patterns continue, keep on eye on what metropolitan areas become the hot ones in the next 5-10 years. How do they respond to a new status and local changes?

Who suburban townhomes are intended for, Naperville edition

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A new proposal to build townhouses in Naperville includes discussion who would live in these denser neighborhoods compared to single-family home subdivisions:

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Through the 1990s and early 2000s, there was so much single-family construction in Naperville that “I think there’s probably a little bit of a need to diversify housing product,” Whitaker said.

“I would say it’s not just townhomes, but I think you’ve also seen more senior housing, more apartments,” he said.

Whitaker also pointed to changing demographics in Naperville. It’s always been a great place to raise a family, but today, the population is aging, he said. “We’ve got a great supply of single-family homes in neighborhoods like Ashbury and Tall Grass in south Naperville, and frankly, it would be hard to … build new single-family homes at a price that is cost competitive to what exists in those communities,” Whitaker said. “And so I think the goal has been to diversify a little bit and find some different niches…

“The development will meet a significant community need by creating a housing opportunity that is suitable for many types of homebuyers,” the petition states, “including some of the fastest growing housing segments of our population, young professionals and empty nesters.”

As I noted yesterday, the primary way Naperville can grow in population in the future is to develop denser housing. Growth has been a key trait of the community for decades. But more and more townhouses is a change from single-family homes.

Additionally, these comments suggest townhouses in Naperville are aimed at particular residents. Specifically, townhouses could provide housing for seniors/empty nesters or young professionals. Might there be other homebuyers who could live in the townhouses?

Long-term, will more townhouses be palatable in the community if they are at particular price points and particular residents live there? There likely will be some pushback for townhouses regardless because of changes to character of the community and to the neighbors who own homes nearby.

Will there ever be another Naperville in the Chicago area?

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The suburb of Naperville, Illinois is marked by several characteristics: rapid growth from the 1960s onward, particularly between 1980 and 2000, and lots of land annexation; wealthier suburban residents and numerous white-collar jobs; and a lively downtown with national retailers, local stores, plenty of restaurants, and a nice Riverwalk. Will any Chicago area suburb trace a similar path in the future?

Here is why I would guess no:

  1. Limited population growth in the Chicago suburbs. The whole region is not growing much. Population growth in the suburbs could still be uneven; some places are perceived as more desirable or are more affordable and they could grow faster will others stagnate or even shrink. But explosive population growth in the Chicago area looks like it is done.
  2. At multiple points in Naperville’s history, leaders and residents discussed possible development and regulatory options. They tended to choose growth and in particular forms. These sets of decisions helped give rise to the particular traits of Naperville today. Even if another suburb tried to pursue the same path, not all the pieces might fall together in the same way.
  3. When Naperville grew from 1960 onwards, it was closer to the edge of the metropolitan region. Land was cheap and available. The city could annex land without running into other communities. That growth has since moved out further beyond Naperville’s ring, out to places like Aurora and Plainfield and Oswego. Any future Naperville will be 10-30 miles out from Naperville.
  4. Naperville itself – and other older suburbs – will likely change in the future. If Naperville wants to continue to grow in population, it will need to grow denser and taller. Infill development on small parcels could add lots of townhouses, condos, and/or apartments. Redevelopment in desirable areas and around mass transit options could lead to taller or denser buildings. This all could happen in numerous Chicago suburbs but this will move them away from homes dominated by single-family homes and lifestyles.

For more insight behind the argument above, see these published papers involving Naperville: “Not All Suburbs are the Same: The Role of Character in Shaping Growth and Development in Three Chicago Suburbs;” “A Small Suburb Becomes a Boomburb: Explaining Suburban Growth in Naperville, Illinois“; and “More than 300 Teardowns Later: Patterns in Architecture and Location among Teardowns in Naperville, Illinois, 2008-2017.”

Offices along I-88 helped Naperville become a boomburb; current mayor says they are ripe for redevelopment

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What might the parts of Naperville along I-88 look like in the future? The current mayor has some thoughts:

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“There is no doubt that the I-88 corridor will be the largest and most significant redevelopment opportunity in our city’s history,” Wehrli said.

A new study calls the corridor the only “opportunity area” of its scale left in the city. Much of the corridor in Naperville — once known as its “Innovation Corridor” — was developed with single-use, low-density office space and is underused and “underperforming relative to its potential,” according to the report by AECOM, a consultant hired by the Naperville Development Partnership.

“Nearly half of the city’s existing jobs are located in the corridor, which the report noted was an ideal location for certain high-growth industries,” Wehrli said. “Sectors like: ag and food tech, biotech, pharma, life science, energy, fintech, quantum and advanced computing, tourism, sports and hospitality.”…

Among its recommendations, the study suggests developing a new corridor brand identity and creating a special zoning district along I-88 that would allow for a more dense, mixed-use, pedestrian- and transit-friendly environment.

“The study sets aspirational goals that add 15,000 high-paying jobs in the corridor by 2045 if we target these industries,” Wehrli told a business-friendly audience.

Three features of this report strike me:

  1. The emphasis on quality jobs is not a surprise. The jobs that came in the 1960s with Bell Labs and then other companies helped provide Naperville with a solid jobs base and a higher status. For a community that is used to having these jobs, it sounds like they want more of the same.
  2. The mention of mixed-use development is intriguing. Naperville has limited the amount of housing in this corridor in the past. How much housing would they allow? What residents are they hoping to attract? How many large-scale mixed-use developments do they think the corridor can handle?
  3. There is mention of zoning and branding unity that would be more “pedestrian- and transit-friendly.” Could this become a kind of linear neighborhood linked by mass transit and walking/biking paths? For decades the corridor was marked by proximity to a busy interstate that grew from two lanes in each direction in the late 1950s to four or more lanes each direction today. Could these new developments have significant connections to each other that go beyond cars and driving?