What is Mapped?

Imagine a digital library dedicated to documenting Chicago’s neighborhood projects—built, envisioned or planned. MAPPED is a searchable database that includes projects at different scales in different categories: community spaces, placemaking interventions, public spaces, plans, neighborhood design guidelines, or toolkits.

This transparent, organized, and accessible index of Chicago’s community spaces will inspire our communities to explore and create spaces in their own neighborhoods. MAPPED users can quickly access budgets, partners, funders, technical information, and other project specifics that can help them better predict costs and concerns.

Why Mapped?

We use maps almost every day, but mapping is also an important tool for community planning. Architects and urban planners create maps that capture a snapshot—one specific moment in time in a community—but they become outdated very quickly.

Imagine, instead, building an incremental map that is populated by and accessible to all Chicagoans.

MAPPED can be used as a research tool to better understand the challenges, priorities, and assets within a neighborhood, or as a starting point for a community planning and design processes.

A tool for equity

MAPPED brings visibility to projects by designers of color to better understand and amplify their work in our different neighborhoods.

Users can search for projects designed by BIPOC and ALANNA architects and designers, share projects or firms, and suggest projects designed by people of color.

What kind of projects can you submit?

We currently have six categories for this project library. See below the list of project example types in each category.

  • Public Spaces

    parks, streetscape, plazas, playgrounds (publicly owned and maintained)

  • Community Spaces

    culture, education, recreation, health, wellness, training, advocacy

  • Urban Planning / Urban Design

    transportation, environment, safety, corridors, resilience

  • Placemaking

    markets, arts, youth, mutual aid, food, innovation

  • Research / Studies

    feasibility, storytelling, visioning, history

  • Guidelines / Toolkits

    neighborhood corridors, outdoor dining, outdoor markets, design guidelines

Additional Mapping and Design Resources

Linked below are a several of the mapping and database resources as well as inspiration that we often use for community design and planning work.

MAPSCorps (Chicago)

Cultural Asset Mapping Project / C.A.M.P (Chicago)

Neighborhoods Now (New York City)

Common Field (Los Angeles)

Allied Media Projects (Detroit)

If you’d like to contribute to this list of resources, please email us at: hello@designtrustchicago.org

Mapped Support

This project is funded and supported by the Design Trust Chicago with support from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

Would you like to partner or support this project? Send us an email at hello@designtrustchicago.org