We Will Chicago was a three-year, citywide planning initiative led by the city’s department of Planning & Development—its first comprehensive citywide planning effort in more than 50 years. The plan established a long-term vision for equitable, diverse, and resilient growth across Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods, informing future development, investment, and policy.

Artist-facilitators were embedded in the planning process to broaden and deepen public participation, using creative and participatory approaches to engage residents in visioning the future of their communities.

The project demonstrated how artistic practice can function as a civic engagement methodology—creating accessible spaces for collective imagination and community knowledge to inform large-scale public planning.

Read the completed plan here.