Where the region needs to go: ON TO 2050

February 24, 2016

Change comes to the Chicago region by chance and by design.  By anticipating change – and better yet, making our own – we can work together more effectively to meet the needs of our region’s residents.

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) and its partners have begun development of the new ON TO 2050 comprehensive plan to build a more prosperous future and enhance the quality of life for the seven counties and 284 municipalities of northeastern Illinois.

The ON TO 2050 plan will take a long-range view to prioritize policies and public investments for decades to come.  Before the plan is completed in October 2018, planners will spend the next two years researching the region’s challenges, working on ideas that can influence the future of the region, and, most importantly, collaborating with the people who live and work in the region to shape a plan that embodies their vision for the future and serves their needs.

At this point, nothing is set in stone as to what ON TO 2050 will or will not include.  We need your ideas about topics such as:

• 
  
• Funding our transportation systems
  
• Expanding access to high quality jobs
  
• Improving housing choices
  
• Managing flooding
  
• Protecting communities from the effects of climate change
  
• Ensuring the preservation of natural areas
  
• Supporting cities with workable tax policies
  
• Creating opportunities for reinvestment
  
• Defining how and where to invest our limited infrastructure dollars
  
• Many more
  

There will be opportunities for you to help CMAP build this ON TO 2050 plan to make our communities more livable and resilient, to connect residents to good jobs, education, and housing options, to promote economic growth while minimizing adverse effects on the environment and quality of life, and to guide public investment in all these things.

To learn more and get involved with ON TO 2050, visit our website at www.cmap.illinois.gov/onto2050.  Use onto2050@cmap.illinois.gov to email us your big ideas or to request a community workshop to discuss the plan.  And send us your #2050BigIdeas on Twitter or Facebook.

A good regional comprehensive plan comes to life when its stakeholders take it and run with it.  Regional planning is for all of us.

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning