Chicago South Side Land Development for Local Park
Team Members Heading link
- Abdel-Jabbar Alqam
- Matthew Kurz
- Jonathan Pillado
Advisors: Dr. Joseph Schulenberg; John Miller
Project Description Heading link
To please residents in any city, measures must be taken to ensure their physical and mental well being. Residents often do not have the time, means, or even desire to go out of their way to spend time on recreational activities. Based on recent success at Grissom Elementary School in Chicago, the project team will focus on the proposal and addition of a community center that contains an indoor center and a green park/playground at the corner of West 21st Street and South Jefferson Street. This project will require engineering analysis, including foundation design and stormwater management.
According to the Chicago park district website, the Chicago park district budget was $462,297,621 in 2018, serving a total of 650 parks throughout the city. Despite that, many neighborhoods lack access to parks near them. Based on this information, the land development project will explore the possible additions and design limitations that are specific to this location. This will be done by determining the type, size, and location of a foundation for the indoor portion of the center based on soil properties and characteristics. The water flow routing and stormwater management design will also be used to follow typical engineering practices. Sustainability is important for this design, and an analysis of the most cost-effective materials will be conducted. Porous asphalt, bioretention landscapes, or use of rain gardens are all possible green infrastructure components that could be implemented into the design. Visiting the site, determining the dimensions of the park, investigating the soil properties, and determining the ground elevations are all part of the procedure to perform the analysis.