BY ZACH MORTICE
High-curbed planters break up the flow of traffic on Argyle Street. Photo by Zach Mortice.
Argyle Street, on Chicago?s Far North Side, is a sort of small-town main street in the big city. It?s the hub of Chicago?s Southeast Asian community, which has built one of the city?s most welcoming and intimate ethnic enclaves. Vietnamese grocery stores, exuberant murals, gift shops, and community nonprofits abound; pho soup restaurants make the entire street smell like lemongrass. It?s also the first shared street plan in Illinois?and a single block away from my apartment.
Each set of planters is asymmetrical and irregularly shaped, forcing motorists to pay close attention as they drive through. Photo by Zach Mortice.
Designed by Ernie Wong, FASLA, of Site Design Group and completed this fall, this three-block stretch of Argyle raises the street level up to the sidewalk and installs a series of high-curbed planters to slow and calm traffic, giving much of the street back to pedestrians. This is especially beneficial in a neighborhood that serves a high percentage of recent immigrants and residents who don?t drive. Served by a CTA Red Line stop, Argyle was a prime candidate for improvement because of its already high levels of pedestrian use. But the community and local leaders wanted a streetscape that could do even more to encourage outdoor street life and community programming such as the summertime Argyle Night Market festival. Dragon dancers at the Argyle ...