These web pages are designed to show you how the designers took the problem of siting in-fill housing in East St. Louis and came up with different solutions based on the needs of the target group.  The first step we took was to search for design precedents and philosophies that would be appropriate for the context of East St. Louis.  We found cities like Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh have all undergone some form of urban decline and the attempts made by these cities to right themselves served as a starting point for the design team.  We also looked at some of the writings on New Urbanism by Peter Katz as they reflected the goals of the design team.  A sample of his work is included with our project.

    When we started looking at the city of East St. Louis, we began by analyzing the site to determine what types of factors would be prohibitive to new home construction.  The next pages in this sequence will show you the factors that we identified as detrimental to new home sites in East St. Louis.  From this data, we have generated a Capability map highlighting the areas that we consider risky places to build in East St. Louis.

    The next set of data deals with the many background issues that shape the way we live in our community.  The locations of schools and churches, the locations of the new Metrolink stations, City and State park locations, and many other maps related to existing land use patterns are featured here.  These maps show us how the residents of East St. Louis use their city and what attributes they find important.  A Suitability map follows these background maps and begins to indicate both where people are and where they would like to be.
 

 
 

    Page Designed and Maintained by
G.Bernosky & B.Horstmann
East St. Louis Action Research Project
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
LA 338 Spring 1998
updated: 5/9/98