Chicago’s urban and architectural developments in the history of world architecture cannot be ignored by future generations. As a highly developed city of capitalism, Chicago has proud modern architecture and urban planning finished by masters. Since then, the influence of the Chicago School has spread to all over the world. The functionalism proposed in the Charte d’Athènes of the Modern Architectural Movement and the pursuit of efficiency in the United States have promoted the process of urbanization in America.
However, in the middle of the twentieth century, the destruction of cities by modernist urban theory was gradually discovered and valued, and a series of architectural movements occurred in that era. In the United States, Jane Jacobs led the protest against the shortcomings of modernist planning. In addition, Lewis Mumford and Kevin Lynch and others also stood up and re-examined the city we live in from the perspective of historians and reporters.
During this period, the urban development of Chicago converged to most cities in the United States. The concentration of capital made the density of the city’s central area higher and higher, which was a sharp contrast to the surrounding development; the use of private cars was more and more, basically ignored a slow walking transportation system; continuous de-industrialization in the process of industrial upgrading, leading to a space similar to the Rust Belt in the city.The design sites of Goose Island and Rezkoville are more or less in line with the urban problems mentioned above. Locations are between CBD area and suburbs. Such an urban area should have the job opportunities provided by the CBD and good living environment in the suburbs, but the impact of the existing industrial environment and rivers has hindered the development. Therefore, it is worth studying and discussing how to find a balance between the high density of urban CBD and the sparse suburbs. The Master Dissertation will focus on how to transform the industrial area into a livable urban environment and other city issues.