FitzGerald Associates Architects received Honorable Mention by the Illinois Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism in association with their 2010 Charter Awards program.
Parkside of Old Town is the rehabilitation of several large super-blocks of Chicago Housing Authority high-rise construction into an award-winning mixed-income community. Comprised of 561 rental and for-sale condominiums and 166 townhomes across nearly 18 acres, Parkside of Old Town is located adjacent to an existing public park, an elementary charter school for the arts and multiple modes of public transportation. The establishment of a safe and walkable site was paramount. A series of internal parks extends the residents’ sightlines for eyes-on-the-street security and encourages safe public green spaces. New public streets were tied into the adjacent thoroughfares, while traffic calming devices discourage fast-moving traffic and shortcuts through the site.
Founded in 1993, the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) is a leading organization of architects, planners, developers, transportation engineers, elected officials and other development professionals that has been proactive in bringing about major shifts in how we design our neighborhoods, communities and regions. Today, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the New Urbanists, compact, walkable and sustainable communities are more in demand than a decade ago. The New Urbanists also made public housing an integrated part of communities, and they took the lead in bringing about restorative plans to the hurricane-battered communities in the Gulf Coast.
