Chicago as the Nation's Crossroads: Our Region's Transportation History and Future through Policy and Maps

James R. Akerman, The Newberry Library, an historian of maps and Joseph P. Schwieterman, DePaul University, a transportation planning expert join forces to explore Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett's treatment of transportation in the Plan of Chicago and to examine the region's role as the crossroads of America. Burnham and Bennett clearly understood Chicago's strategic location as a transportaion hub for the region and the nation, and their vision has profound implications for the city and region today. What are the Plan's transportation legacies and where are we planning to take them? How can maps, those rich sources of transportation information, help us better to grasp Chicago's position as the nation's crossroads and the place of transportation in American history and culture? How will transportation's changing role affect the way we travel?

This program is part of a public program series  co-sponsored by the Burnham Plan Centennial Committee and the Newberry Library, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities designed to complement the Make Big Plans exhibit.