Towards a New Standard: New Housing Strategies in Chicago

Cities around the world are grappling with a growing housing crisis. Urban areas are facing shortages of affordable housing and housing costs for owners and renters are increasing to unsustainable levels. Within the context of current and future urban challenges, shifting family patterns, new ways of living, and the current climate crisis, how can those thinking about and working on housing in Chicago provide paths forward?

During this program, architects, developers, and city officials will share initiatives they are leading to provide well-designed and affordable housing across the city. Future Now is an emerging design-develop model focused around a family of twelve new infill typologies for Chicago’s typical lots, from “mini” to “super-long,” which use emerging building technology and code opportunities to produce more abundant housing at lower costs. Duo Development’s Homekeep initiative aims to design new models of ownership that preserve affordability, provide ethical investment opportunities, and protect residents’ rights. A project to imagine a reality without landlords and tenants. The City of Chicago is developing comprehensive initiatives and long-term policies to foster sustainable housing models.

This conversations aims to provide a local counterpart to the six groundbreaking Danish architectural projects that are exhibited as part of Boliglaboratorium: A Danish Housing Lab at the CAB Studio at the Chicago Cultural Center.