Winter 2022 Programming

This convening is open to all invitees who are compliant with UChicago vaccination requirements and, because of ongoing health risks, particularly to the unvaccinated, participants are expected to adopt the risk mitigation measures (masking and social distancing, etc.) appropriate to their vaccination status as advised by public health officials or to their individual vulnerabilities as advised by a medical professional. Public convening may not be safe for all and carries a risk for contracting COVID-19, particularly for those unvaccinated. Participants will not know the vaccination status of others and should follow appropriate risk mitigation measures.

As the College returns to campus this Winter, Chicago Studies invites you to re-discover the city through a climate-focused lens. Our Winter programming offers a multitude of ways to engage climate issues, including our signature Climate and the City series. This multi-week series of TED-style conversations will focus on how Chicago is responding locally to this global crisis, despite relentless climate anxiety and despair. We look forward to introducing you to local thinkers, activists, and policy-makers who go beyond offering grim forecasts and can help point us towards ideas that have the potential to make a difference, in Chicago and beyond.

In addition to the Climate and the City series, outdoors buffs can brave the chilly temperatures and explore Chicago's architecture, history, and ecology in more of our Urban Hikes. Those who prefer to do their learning indoors can join us for workshops on researching and writing Chicago, including weekly BA-focused writing time (with staff on-hand to answer your Chicago research questions) during Chicago Fridays in our Urban Lounge at 1155 E. 60th St on the first floor. Join us all Winter long for programming and events that expand your knowledge of Chicago - and help you see it for yourself.

Want to help us plan future events? Apply for our Student Advisory Board!

Winter Quarter 2022

Put your design skills to the test in Chicago Studies' Chicago Neighborhood Logo Contest! The Chicago Neighborhood Project was created by local artist Steve Shanabruch in 2011 with the goal of creating logos for all 200+ Chicago neighborhoods. The logos he created (about 115 in all) represented Shanabruch's personal experiences, research into each neighborhood's history and culture, and stories shared with him by local residents.

Now it's your turn to visually represent the gestalt of a Chicago neighborhood! Chicago Studies, in collaboration with Shanabruch, invites you to design your own Chicago neighborhood logo. Submissions (which can be created in any medium, but must be digitally uploaded as image files) will be accepted from Monday, January 10th through Friday, January 28th. And join us for a conversation and workshop with Shanabruch later this week!

Learn more: Chicago Neighborhoods Logo Contest

This Winter, Chicago Studies invites you to put your design skills to the test in our Chicago Neighborhood Logo Contest, which takes its inspiration from The Chicago Neighborhood Project. Created by local artist Steve Shanabruch in 2011, the Project set the ambitious goal of creating logos for all 200+ Chicago neighborhoods. The logos he created (about 115 in all) represented Shanabruch's personal experiences, research into each neighborhood's history and culture, and stories shared with him by local residents.

Wonder why and how he did it, and what process Steve goes through as he continues to represent Chicago neighborhoods through his art? Join us for a conversation and virtual workshop (Zoom) with Steve from 6:30-7:30 PM on Thursday, January 13th to help get your creative juices flowing! Registration is now open.

Learn More: Chicago Neighborhoods Logo Contest

Chicago Neighborhood Logos Workshop with Steve Shanabruch | Thursday, January 13th, 6:30-7:30 PM on Zoom

ENERGIZE is an annual networking event for undergraduate UChicago students seeking to meet with employers and UChicago alumni who work in the environmental, energy, and sustainability fields. Sponsored by UChicago Career Advancement, the Program on the Global Environment, and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, students will gather in a rotating, round-robin style virtual event where they’ll have the opportunity to meet and connect with a variety of professionals. Registration is now open.

Learn more: ENERGIZE | January 20th, 5:00-6:15 PM CDT

Join Chicago Studies and the Program on the Global Environment for a virtual information session with the 2022 Calumet Quarter faculty, including Dr. Alison Anastasio, Dr. Ray Lodato, and a community-based practitioner. The Calumet Quarter is an experiential learning opportunity for undergraduate students interested in environmental and urban studies. The program is an immersive quarter that will bring courses on urban ecology, regional planning, and environmental justice in the Calumet together with weekly field trips throughout the region. Registration is now open.

Learn more: Calumet Quarter Information Session | Friday, January 21st, 12:00-1:00PM on Zoom

Learn more about the Calumet Quarter (Spring 2022) and apply today

Meet the recently-graduated authors of the best original research on Chicago, as anthologized in the recently published volume 10 of Chicago Studies, the College's premiere journal of undergraduate research. With research that explored topics from public art to public policy, and employed methods from historiography to mental mapping, these five student researchers expanded their respective fields while contributing to the broader body of knowledge which UChicago has built about the city by the lake.

Come hear how (and why) they chose their topics, what resources they found most helpful when studying the city, and how they overcame the challenges of going beyond theory to engage specific places, people, and times. The panel discussion will include open Q&A with the authors. Registration is now open. Students writing or considering writing Chicago-focused BA's are strongly encouraged to attend.

Learn more: "Student Authors Speak" Chicago BA Research Panel | Wednesday, January 26th, 4:30-5:30 PM CDT on Zoom

Join Chicago Studies and the Program on the Global Environment for the launch of Expositions Magazine. Expositions was founded in 2021 by University of Chicago students studying urban journalism with Dr. Evan Carver. In partnership with the Program on the Global Environment, Expositions aims to highlight environmental and urban scholarship through creative forms. Unlike a school newspaper or academic journal, Expositions seeks current profiles of dynamic issues and phenomena through a wide range of styles and genres, with a distinct focus on creativity and boldness in both prose and visual art.

Stop by the Urban Lounge (1155 E. 60th Street) on January 28th from 12:00-1:30PM to grab a copy and celebrate the launch of Expositions Magazine, featuring live readings from the authors. Registration is now open.

Expositions: Nature and Metropolis Launch Party | Friday, January 28, 12:00-1:30PM @ The Urban Lounge

Join Chicago Studies for a Data in Dialogue Session with Bike Lane Uprising, a cyclist-led civic tech platform focused on making cycling safer by making it easy to report bike lane obstructions, and finding trends in the data to hold violators accountable and prevent future obstructions.

The Data in Dialogue series offers participants a "behind the scenes" look at a Chicago-relevant dataset, archive, or other resource for research about the city. As the work of Miranda Fricker and others have taught us, data are not neutral. Sessions in this series will open critical conversations with Chicagoans responsible for making decisions about data at all stages in its "life-cycle," from collection to curation to publication to representation. Registration is now open.

Data in Dialogue: Bike Lane Uprising | Tuesday, February 1st, 6:00-7:00 PM CDT

Open Studio (Wednesdays, 5-8 PM, MADD Center - 1st Floor Crerar Library) is an opportunity for students interested in architecture, urban design, and related disciplines to meet, work together on projects, share ideas and techniques, and build community. While the space is designed mostly for students enrolled (or interested) in studio classes sponsored by the Architectural Studies (ARCH) program, all are welcome, and no registration is required. Light refreshments will be available; some Wednesdays will also include optional workshops/events to complement and inspire the more creative space the studios create. Sponsored by the Architectural Studies program in collaboration with Chicago Studies.

Learn more: Open Studio | Wednesday, February 2nd, 5:00-8:00 PM CDT @ MADD Center

One of the most significant climate divides is communicative: scientists speak in terms of data that map incremental change over decades, while communities deal with extreme weather and other more immediate impacts in the here and now. Solution strategizing, to be effective, needs to bridge this divide. In Communicating Inclusive Solutions, the first event in our Climate and the City series, we will learn how the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a climate and sustainability research center, has learned to use inclusive communication as a key tool in building practical solutions to make Chicago neighborhoods more climate resilient. Center for Neighborhood Technology delivers game-changing research, tools, and solutions to create sustainable + equitable communities. Join us for a conversation with Leslé Honoré, Managing Director of Strategy and Communications, about their work and ways that you can contribute or become involved. Bonus: if able to be presented in person, Leslé will be available to sign copies of her book, Fist and Fire, which includes her viral hit poem "Brown Girl, Brown Girl" after the presentation.

Climate and the City is a multi-week series of TED-style conversations focusing on how Chicago is responding locally to the global climate crisis, despite relentless climate anxiety and despair. We look forward to introducing you to local thinkers, activists, and policy-makers who go beyond offering grim forecasts and can help point us towards ideas that have the potential to make a difference, in Chicago and beyond. Recordings will be made available on the Chicago Studies website after each event.

Registration is now open.

Climate and The City: Communicating Inclusive Solutions | Thursday, February 3rd, 6:30-8:00 PM CDT

Join Chicago Studies for a research workshop exploring the rich archives and special collections of Chicago Public Library. Hosted by Stacie Williams (formerly Director of Digital Scholarship at UChicago Library and now Division Chief, Archives and Special Collections) and Johanna Russ (Senior Archival Specialist at CPL), this session will explore both the extent and strengths of CPL's collections and also demonstrate how to navigate these vast resources, with special emphasis on taking deep dives into the public archives. Registration is now open.

Chicago Public Library Research Workshop | Friday, February 4th, 12:30-1:30PM CDT

Although the transition to electric vehicles is well underway, our auto-focused transit and regional development priorities have had deeper implications for Chicago's climate readiness than simply adding to greenhouse gas emissions. In Transit-Oriented Development, the second event in our Climate and the City series, we will learn how Chicago's transit policy can be reimagined to contribute to our climate readiness, instead of compounding the errors of the past. Active Transportation Alliance advocates for walking, bicycling, and public transit to create healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities, envisioning a Chicagoland that is a more fun and healthy place to live, work, and play. Join us for a conversation with W. Robert Schultz III, Campaign Organizer at Active Trans, about their work and ways that you can contribute or become involved.

Climate and the City: Transit-Oriented Development | February 9th, 6:30-7:30 PM CDT

Join Chicago Studies and the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore for a virtual conversation between author Hugh Howard and Ali Feser, University of Chicago Harper-Schmidt Fellow about Howard's new book, Architects of an American Landscape: Henry Hobson Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Reimagining of America's Public and Private Spaces.

The small, reserved Olmsted and the passionate, Falstaffian Richardson could not have been more different in character, but their sensibilities were closely aligned. Olmsted's work is well known -- his influence is evident throughout the South Side (Jackson Park, Washington Park, the Midway Plaisance) as well as in the national imagination (Central Park in NYC). Richardson's has been mostly forgotten, but was no less significant and pervasive. In chronicling their intersecting lives and work in the context of the nation's post-war renewal, Howard reveals how these two men created original all-American idioms in architecture and landscape that influence how we enjoy our public and private spaces to this day. Registration is now open.

Architects of an American Landscape with author Hugh Howard and Ali Feser | Wednesday, February 10, 6:00-7:00PM CDT

Long before European colonization, the region that is now Chicago was home to several Native tribes. Although marginalized by centuries of conquest, these communities are still here, working to preserve, protect, and share a heritage that can offer pathways through the current crisis. Our third session of Climate and the City will be hosted by Xavier Colon and Samantha Arechiga, activists and organizers with North Lawndale's Indigenous cultural center and garden Semillas y Raices. Their presentation will explore their holistic approach to societal change and communal resilience, which includes restorative justice practice, Indigenous urban environmental restoration through urban agriculture and education, BIPOC youth and trauma responses to climate change, and Indigenous futurism.

Registration is now open.

Climate and the City: Restorative Justice and Indigenous Urban Environmental Restoration | Thursday, February 17th, 12:30-1:30 PM CDT

Join the Chicago Park District's Dr. Lauren Umek and Stephen Bell for a guided tour of one of Chicago's most fascinating public parks, Big Marsh! Big Marsh is a 280.13 acre property in the South Deering Community Area on the southeast side of Chicago. Once an active industrial property, the site was acquired by the Park District in 2011 and opened as a new public park in 2016. The vision of Big Marsh is to provide a new type of recreation in Chicago that marries habitat restoration with public use. Roughly 45 acres are developed for eco-recreation opportunities including hiking, adventure courses, and off-road biking. All acreage is being developed to protect or further enhance the overall natural habitat of the park property including sensitivity to flora, fauna, and wetlands. Registration is now open.

Urban Hikes invite participants to explore Chicago in and beyond Hyde Park, in both natural and built environments - imagine a walk through the woodlands of Big Marsh Park or a guided tour along one of the lines of the CTA! Led by faculty, staff, and partners, our hikes offer an in-depth look at Chicago’s diverse ecosystems. Urban Hikes help to expose students to Chicago itself, while building relationships with faculty and partners and providing path-making opportunities for further inquiry.

Urban Hike: Big Marsh Park | Friday February 18th, 11:30-2:30PM

For participants needing transportation, shuttle seats will be given on a first come, first serve basis until the shuttle has reached the 30 person capacity limit.

In Resilience for All Species, the fourth event of our Climate and the City series, we will take the broadest possible perspective on who “counts” as a Chicagoan and consider the non-human residents of our region, many of whom boast much longer histories in this area than we do. The Field Museum’s Keller Science Action Center is working to deepen climate resilience for wildlife throughout Chicagoland. Join us for a conversation with Abigail Derby Lewis, Conservation Tools Program Director at Keller, about their work and ways that you can contribute or become involved.

Registration is now open.

Climate and the City: Resilience for All Species | Thursday, February 24th, 12:30-1:30 PM CDT on Zoom

Although Chicago and other communities confront climate change's impacts locally, the scale of the crisis is global. This presents challenges, both in understanding and explaining its causes and solutions. In Visualizing Urban, Environmental, and Planetary Change, the final event in our Climate and the City series and the second to deal with the communicative/representational dimensions of the crisis, we will explore the ways that shifting our scales of reference can open us to new responses to this planetary crisis. Our session will be presented by Alexander Arroyo and Grga Basic, both members of the Urban Theory Lab, a research team that's recently moved to UChicago from Harvard University under the direction of Dr. Neil Brenner.

Registration is now open.

Climate and the City: Visualizing Urban, Environmental, and Planetary Change | March 2nd, 6:30-7:30 PM CDT