The Burnham Plan Centennial - Bold Plans, Big Dreams

Multimedia Gallery

Online Exhibits

Make Big Plans: Daniel Burnham's Vision of an American Metropolis

The Newberry Library and The Burnham Plan Centennial

Explore online the exhibit that was up in more than 60 sites around the Chicago region from suburban libraries to O'Hare and Midway International Airports.  Browse through a slide show of images from the Plan of Chicago, learn about the Plan's historical context, examine its relevance to the 20th Century and think of the lessons it offers today. Maps, photographs and illustrations introduce broad audiences to Burnham's regional vision. [View exhibit]

Without Bounds or Limits: An online exhibition of The Plan of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago

This exhibition presented a selection of original drafts, letters, meeting minutes and images related to the Plan of Chicago, from the collections at the Ryerson & Burnham Archives at the Art Institute of Chicago. It builds on one of the most striking and uniquely American aspects of the Plan- its idealistic belief in Chicago as a city without limits. [Explore the site]

Big. Bold. Visionary.
Chicago Considers the
Next Century

City of Chicago and The Burnham Plan Centennial Committee

The Plan of Chicago established a precedent of dreaming big and thinking boldly that every generation of Chicagoans since has firmly embraced. This online exhibition taps current Chicago architects, planners, and landscape architects for their visions of the city and region in the 21st century and beyond. [View exhibit]

Virtual Burnham

Lake Forest College

The Virtual Burnham Initiative allows audiences to interact with the ideas presented in the Plan of Chicago in an entirely new way. Google Earth technology transforms key elements of the Plan into 3-D models available for everyone to explore. [Experience Virtual Burnham]

 

SOM Great Lakes Vision Plan

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP

SOM introduces a visionary plan for the next 100 years to build upon the natural resources provided by the Great Lakes in order to start a global dialogue and address issues of sustainability in the region. The plan brings exceptional urban and environmental practices to the forefront, while building upon the momentum of the Centennial. [View Plan]

 

The Plan of Chicago: A Regional Legacy

The Burnham Plan Centennial Committee

Learn about the Plan of Chicago — the conditions that prompted it, the major recommendations, its implementation and its legacy in this highly illustrated booklet available for download or on-line viewing.
[Download PDF or View Booklet On-Line]

 

Burnham Blog

The Plan of Chicago

Urban affairs writer Patrick T. Reardon blogged an entertaining body of work on the people, plans and ideas shaping metropolitan Chicago's future. Look through his chronicle of the Centennial's voices and faces. [Burnham Blog]

Newsroom

The Plan of Chicago

From the Chicago Tribune to the Wall Street Journal to BBC America, news outlets around the world gave the Centennial great coverage that is archived in the newsroom along with press releases and e-newsletters. [Newsroom]

 

The Burnham Plan Centennial
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