Introduction	Book/Author Events	Discussion Groups
Participating Organizations	Children's and Family Events	Carl Sandburg Award Dinner
Sponsors	Other Happenings	One Book, One Chicago

 

One Book, One Chicago

One Book, One Chicago encourages all Chicagoans to read and discuss the same book at the same time and attend discussions and related events throughout October. This fall’s selection is The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City by Carl Smith. A free resource guide with background information on the subject and the author and a complete list of events and discussions is available at your neighborhood library or bookstore. For more information on further events and exhibits that are part of the Burnham Plan Centennial being celebrated throughout this anniversary year, visit www.burnhamplan100.org.

Quicklinks: Community Discussions | YouMedia | Book Discussions

The below programs are free and open to the public, with no reservations required unless otherwise noted. For more information call (312) 747-8191.

EVENTS 

Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City
Thursday, October 1, 6:30 p.m.
Chicago Public Library, Sulzer Regional Library
4455 N. Lincoln Ave.
Wednesday, October 7, 6:30 p.m.
Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library
9525 S. Halsted St.
This documentary film explores the fascinating life and complex legacy of Daniel Hudson Burnham and how his vision to organize the chaos of 19th century America shaped the nation's towns and cities for generations. The film, the first full-length documentary about Burnham, was directed by Judith McBrien and produced by The Archimedia Workshop (www.thearchimediaworkshop.org) in consultation with Kartemquin Films. Run time is approximately 60 minutes.

THE UNRAVELING OF CHICAGO PUBLIC HOUSING
Tuesday, October 6, 6:00 p.m.
Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center
400 S. State St., Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
Join D. Bradford Hunt, Associate Professor of Social Science at Roosevelt University and author of Blueprint for Disaster: The Unraveling of Chicago Public Housing, as he reflects on Chicago public housing from its New Deal roots through the current Mayor Daley’s Plan for Transformation.
Presented in partnership with Chicago Matters and the National Public Housing Museum.

ONE WRITER ON HOME
Wednesday, October 14, 6:00 p.m.
DePaul University, John R. Cortelyou Commons Building
2324 N. Fremont St.
Chicago-based fiction writer Bayo Ojikutu (47th Street Black, Free Burning) reads from his latest work and discusses the manner in which recent civic phenomena—gentrification, the city’s bid for the 2016 Olympics and the emergence of President Barack Obama from the city’s South Side—have affected how Chicago writers speak to the city’s burgeoning global identity and its 21st century aspirations.
Sponsored by DePaul University’s Department of English. For more information, go to www.depaul.edu/~oboc or call (312) 325-7485.

FROM CITY BEAUTIFUL TO CITY GREEN
Thursday, October 22, 7:00 p.m.
Chicago Public Library, Vodak-East Side Branch
3710 E. 106th St.
Join the Newberry Library’s Diane Dillon, Loyola University’s Harold Platt, and Openlands’ Glenda Daniel for a discussion of how the Plan of Chicago responded to lack of public open, green spaces and the weak relationship of the city to the region, and how similar environmental questions are being addressed today.
Presented in partnership with the Newberry Library and the Burnham Plan Centennial.

CARL SMITH: CHICAGO—THE AMERICAN CITY
Saturday, October 24, 11:00 a.m.
Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center
400 S. State St., Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
Join the author of the Fall 2009 One Book, One Chicago selection! Smith gives an exciting and engaging illustrated talk about the remarkable effort to create and implement the Plan of Chicago.  What put Burnham at the helm of this gargantuan task to restructure our city? How did Burnham's plan change the way that Chicago and other American cities are built?

PARKS, SQUARES, LAWNS, WOODS AND DALES: THE BURGHS OF FICTIVE CHICAGO
Monday, October 26, 6:00 p.m.
DePaul University Student Center, Room 120
2250 N. Sheffield Ave.
Chicago writers Billy Lombardo, Gina Frangello and Eric May read from their work and consider how Chicago has defined them as writers, teachers, and editors. The authors will address this city of interwoven villages, and how it has informed the insights offered in their poetry and prose.
Sponsored by DePaul University’s Department of English. For more information, go to depaul.edu/~oboc or call (773) 325-7485.

The BIOGRAPHY OF CHICAGO 
Wednesday, October 28, 6:00 p.m.
Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center
400 S. State St., Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
Join historian Dominic Pacyga as he traces our city’s storied past, from the explorations of Joliet and our city’s storied past, from the explorations of Joliet and Marquette in 1673 to the new wave of urban pioneers today. Pacyga’s latest book, Chicago: A Biography, is filled with all of the city’s characters and defining moments.
Presented in partnership with Columbia College and Chicago Matters.

MAKE BIG PLANS—DANIEL BURNHAM'S VISION OF AN AMERICAN METROPOLIS
Through October 31
This exhibition, curated by the Newberry Library, commemorates the Plan of Chicago and emphasizes its relevance to metropolitan development now and into the future. Reproductions of compelling images from the Plan and other sources engage audiences in the history and implications of Burnham’s regional vision. For a list of library locations hosting this exhibit, see the Events page for One Book, One Chicago.

 

COMMUNITY DISCUSSIONS: WHAT’S NEXT?
Eleven CPL locations will host community discussions featuring facilitators whose insights into the Plan of Chicago and related topics will bring added depth to the conversation. Using Carl Smith’s book as a launching point, these programs will ask: How has the city been shaped by our needs these past one hundred years and how will it evolve in the next one hundred? What’s next?
Presented in partnership with Chicago Matters, The Great Books Foundation and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

Saturday, October 3, 3:00 p.m.
Rogers Park Branch
6907 N. Clark St.

Monday, October 5, 6:30 p.m.
Albany Park Branch
5150 N. Kimball Ave.

Tuesday, October 13, 6:00 p.m. 
Roosevelt Branch
1101 W. Taylor St.

Wednesday, October 14, 7:00 p.m.
Sulzer Regional Library
4455 N. Lincoln Ave.

Thursday, October 15, 6:00 p.m.
South Chicago Branch
9055 S. Houston Ave.

Saturday, October 17, 11:00 a.m.
Bucktown-Wicker Park Branch
1701 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Saturday, October 17, 1:30 p.m.
Mayfair Branch
4400 W. Lawrence Ave.

Thursday, October 22, 7:00 p.m.
Woodson Regional Library
9525 S. Halsted St.

Saturday, October 24, 10:15 a.m.
Thurgood Marshall Branch
7506 S. Racine Ave.

Tuesday, October 27, 2:00 p.m.
Vodak-East Side Branch
3710 E. 106th St.

Wednesday, October 28, 7:00 p.m.
Lozano Branch
1805 S. Loomis St.

 

DANIEL BURNHAM MEETS YOUmedia AT THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY
The change-makers no longer dwell in smokey rooms and high-back leather chairs. They are students, gamers, musicians, designers, photographers, filmmakers, bloggers and tweet-ers. YOUmedia is a dynamic new space in the Harold Washington Library Center that connects young adults with books, digital technologies and Chicago’s educational and cultural communities, inspiring collaboration and creativity. In celebration of the Burnham Plan Centennial and the rising generation of urban innovators, YOUmedia will offer a series of digital media workshops designed to further equip young adults with the technical and critical skills needed to shape the world around them.
The YOUmedia CENTENNIAL SERIES WORKSHOPS include:

• Viral Reform: Ignite social change via Twitter, YouTube and Social Networking.
• Being Daniel Burnham: Apply the practice of gaming to design a 21st Century Plan for Chicago.
• Tracing Changes: Capture the city’s oral history through digital photographic and cinematic documentation.
• The Great Persuasion: Build a digital ‘soap box’ through the mediums of blogging and podcasting.
• Progressive Propaganda: Create messages promoting a new vision for urban beautification using graphic design.

For up-to-date information about these workshops and YOUmedia, visit www.youmediachicago.org.

 

BOOK DISCUSSIONS
Discussions take place at Chicago Public Library locations throughout October of The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City. For a full list of locations, go to the One Book, One Chicago page. The following discussions take place outside of the Chicago Public Library. CPL thanks these participating organizations!

Monday, October 19 and Wednesday, October 21, 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, October 20 and Thursday, October 22, 2:00 p.m.
Harold Washington College
30 E. Lake St.
(312) 553-5883

October 20, 7:30 p.m.
Barnes & Noble Webster Place
Presented by the Great Books Foundation
1441 W. Webster Ave.
(773) 871-3610

Thursday, October 22, 2:00 p.m. 
Loyola University - Lewis Library, Water Tower Campus
25 E. Pearson St., Room 713
(773) 508-2674

Thursday, October 22, 7:00 p.m.
Gerber/Hart Library
1127 W. Granville Ave.
(773) 381-8030

October 27, 6:30 p.m.
Barnes & Noble Old Orchard
Presented by the Great Books Foundation
55 Old Orchard Center, Skokie
(847) 676-2230