Revealing the City to Itself

One’s answer to these questions will depend on the interpretation of the word "place". Is it a physical location? Is it an identity related to a community or group? Is it a sense of purpose or meaning? Or does ‘place’ encompass all of these definitions at once?

The work of Imagine Chicago emerges from an appreciation for and detailed attention to place as context, as community and as purpose. Indeed, a large part of our work has been to make publicly visible the intersections among these understandings: How who we are integrally links to where we are, how where we are links to what we do, how what we do links to who we are, and so on and on, in an organic spiral of dynamic action, rooted reflection, and self- and collective understanding.

To gain insight into the multiple meanings of "place", we need to think about who we are, both at the micro-level, of our individual and family lives, and at a macro-level, of the city and world as a whole. Each physical place has particular characteristics as well as being linked to other places. Similarly, our identity is interdependent on the kinds of relationships and experiences we have in community with others. The well-being of our life in community is strongly intertwined with the wholeness of our life as individuals, and the health of the physical environment in which we live.

Our sense of purpose, our spirit, our motivation to contribute, how we make meaning of our life in the world, the inner word of who we are — all shape and invigorate our identities. When shared publicly, they have the potential to transform the common space. Belonging to a place therefore has spiritual, as well as social, implications. As our public spaces reflect the best of our collective imagination and our city’s diversity, our ‘place’ becomes fuller, more complete, and a more fertile ground for emerging possibilities and connections.

This nuanced perception of place sets Imagine Chicago apart from community or international development work that replicates strategies without regard to context, local imagination or diversity. Such work does not recognize the importance of systems thinking and doing: seeing the whole as essential and more than the sum of parts, and seeing the parts as interconnected, not isolated or self-contained. By contrast, Imagine Chicago sees itself as an organically growing and voluntary process of partnership rooted in a specific place(s). Imagine CHICAGO. We aim to channel and multiply the energy of what’s in place, recognizing and honoring the natural and human ecologies which constitute that place as a living system, while creating learning communities which nurture civic understanding, identity and ownership among a very broad population.

Why has Imagine Chicago, and why have so many other Imagine efforts, focused on cities? Cities echo creation. They are a living symbol of the human ability to imagine and to create, to turn visions into tangible products. Cities are a living and dynamic inventory of human capacity and diversity. They concentrate forces of darkness and light, corruption and possibility, hope and despair. Boundaries are pushed in a city — literally and figuratively. The breadth and depth of cities stretch our personal boundaries and our collective boundaries. We experience the intensity and energy of the human spirit in a city; at the same time, the fear, violence and tension of cities can alienate us from one another and from our common humanity.

Most importantly, cities cannot be ignored. Though they cover only 2% of the earth’s surface land area, they house 46% of the world’s population, consume 75% of the world’s resources and produce 75% of the world’s waste. And they are likely to keep growing. Clearly, to imagine and create a just, ecologically-sound and community-oriented city — a city redeemed as an integrated, healthy, whole and holy body — is a vital work for any movement of imagination.

For us, Chicago is just the place to imagine such a city. It possesses amazing energy and diversity, with a rich history of culture, community organizing and social innovation. It is a global city, many of whose residents maintain close ties to their countries of origin. Yet Chicago also faces crises of racial and socio-economic segregation, divisive politicking, and serious challenges to its moral, economic and social infrastructure. To nurture a sense of "place" in Chicago requires, as it does in other parts of the world: (1) recognizing and valuing the diversity in contexts, rather than generalizing about individuals and communities; (2) linking institutions and systems, which means balancing the local and concrete with public policies and the larger movement; and (3) facilitating the creation of new and dynamic spaces where individuals’ and communities’ inner words can be shared publicly to generate a collective word of hope and action.

Imagine Chicago has sought to reveal the city of Chicago to itself: its strengths and challenges, its questions and possibilities. By cultivating the civic imagination of as many citizens as possible, and giving it public expression, Imagine Chicago seeks to expand possibilities for people to discover their own vital ‘place’ at the table, as part of a city to which they belong and can contribute.

- Valmer Jordan, citywide interviewee