America doesn’t do big projects anymore - we’re too broke, no one can agree on our priorities, that era of bold thinking is over.

That canard has been repeated so many times that it’s now accepted as gospel. Except it’s not true. In cities in every region of the country, pie-in-the-sky ideas are moving from brainstorm to blueprint to groundbreaking - and 2012 will prove it. From a massive re-imagining of a postindustrial Chicago landscape to the rebirth of the Los Angeles River, these seven ventures point the way to a brave urban future.

Chicago Goes Wild

There aren’t a lot of urban parks that you’d get on a plane to visit, but if Chicago’s plan for its Calumet region succeeds, we’ll be on the first flight to O’Hare. Calling it ambitious would be like calling the Sears Tower tall. At 140,000 acres, the Millennium Reserve Initiative would be the biggest open-space project in the country, transforming a huge swath of underused, postindustrial land into a playground of wildlife corridors, parks, gardens, organic farms and more than 50 miles of hiking trails. The city is hoping it’ll be a boon to tourism and build on Chicago’s already well-deserved reputation as a leader in […]