Near West

Located 2 miles west of the Loop, Chicago’s near west side is home to the United Center, Rush University Medical Center, and Malcolm X College. Their late-20th-century growth was accompanied by the demolition of blocks once filled with a wide range of building types and uses, their sites now almost entirely paved for surface parking. Sam Lima’s neighborhood plan would reintroduce to the near west side a diverse mix of buildings on a re-established Chicago block system. The intersection of Ashland, Ogden, and Madison is re-imagined as the neighborhood’s cultural and commercial center; Malcolm X College is reconceived as a campus of urban buildings organized around a public square; the United Center becomes accessible by two different CTA rail lines; and the Eisenhower Expressway is re-envisioned as a multi-modal urban boulevard.