By D. Bradford Hunt, dean of the Evelyn Stone College of Professional Studies and vice provost for adult and experiential learning at Roosevelt University in Chicago; and Jon DeVries, head of Roosevelt's real estate program.

Publisher: American Planning Association Press, 2013

Paperback, 352 pgs.

ISBN 9781611900804

When landscape architects think of Chicago, they naturally think of two planners: architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham (1846–1912), his leading role in master planning the city, and overseeing the design and construction of Chicago's world's fair in 1893; and Edward Bennett, for his 1909 Plan of Chicago.

This new volume by the American Planning Association Press, aptly and succinctly titled "Planning Chicago," doesn't retell the old tales of the late 19th century, but begins with Chicago in 1958 in the early days of Mayor Richard Daley. Chicago came into the "contemporary era," the authors' note, with the creation of the Department of City Planning in 1957.

Between 1960 and 1990, Chicago lost 22 percent of its population, and poverty skyrocketed. However, unlike Detroit, Cleveland and St. Louis, which continued to spiral down, Chicago emerged from the 1981-82 recession with a downtown construction boom. By the end of the century, say the authors, Chicago had "staged a remarkable renaissance."

The book relates the stories of the planners, politicians and citizens who shaped contemporary Chicago, the power struggles, what they did right, where they failed and the role of planning today.

As of January 2011, say the authors in the preface, the city no longer has a department with the word "planning" in it. "Deal making," they say, has replaced structured planning. For Chicago today, the authors recommend greater investment in transit, more innovative neighborhood planning, as exemplified by the New Communities Program, a 10-year initiative to support community development in 16 Chicago neighborhoods, and "forward-thinking city planning."