Chicago 21 Plan
The Chicago 21 Plan was a comprehensive development plan released in 1973 intended to revitalize the areas surrounding the Chicago Loop, Chicago's central business district. The 125-page document, subtitled "A Plan for the Central Area Communities" was published by the Chicago 21 Corporation, which was made up of members of the Chicago Central Area Committee (CCAC), founded by some of Chicago's most influential business and civic leaders.
The cornerstone of the Chicago 21 Plan was the proposed creation of a new residential neighborhood in the 600 acres (2.4 km2) of unused railroad yard bordered by the Loop to its north and the Chicago River to its west. The CCAC and Chicago's business and civic leaders praised the Chicago 21 Plan as a bold initiative to stave off middle-class white flight to the surrounding suburbs and revitalize a city hit hard by declines in manufacturing and industrial employment following World War II.
Opponents of Chicago 21, however, charged the CCAC with trying to create a fortress-like moat around the important Loop businesses, pushing the poorer residents of the central-areas to outlying neighborhoods. These low-income residents created the Coalition of Central Area Communities to fight for a community voice in the planning process. Spurned in their efforts, they eventually changed their name to the Coalition to Stop Chicago 21. Over the following decades, the CCAC played a powerful role in Chicago's real estate development, while representatives of low-income members of central area communities (Pilsen and Cabrini–Green), asked for a louder voice in the planning process.
When Richard J. Daley was elected mayor of Chicago in 1955, he inherited a city dealing with the issues facing many urban American centers - mainly a decline in manufacturing and industrial jobs and the exodus of middle-class white residents to the outlying suburbs. This "white flight" was prevalent especially in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, where the white population decreased from 98% to 55% from 1960 to 1980. Daley focused his efforts on revitalizing the downtown areas. In 1958, the Department of City Planning issued the Development Plan for the Central Area of Chicago. The plan called for a University of Illinois campus south of the Loop, the creation of McCormick Place as a convention center and several federal buildings and plazas in the North Loop.
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