Trends indicate more congestion; land-use patterns hinder progress

Forum participants and survey respondents want a Chicago region that is efficient in the use of land and effective in moving people and goods. Residents singled out transportation as the area where change would most improve the region’s quality of life.

The region’s residents favored by a three-to-one margin the addition of new jobs and housing in already developed areas and by a two-to-one margin the clustering of jobs, retail and housing to promote walking.

		Most new development will make efficient use of existing infrastructure, land and buildings.

From 1970 to 1990, the amount of urbanized land in the region increased at nearly eight times the rate of population growth. On average, the region’s population grew by 0.2% annually between 1970 and 1990, while urbanized land grew at 1.85% per year. This trend leveled off between 1990 and 1995, and in four counties — DuPage, McHenry, Will and Lake — the population actually grew faster than the growth of urbanized land. Density of land use is an indicator of how efficiently an area can be served by transit and other infrastructure such as roads, sewers and water lines.

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