Planners’ Day Off

Key Publications: 1.“The Millennium Park Effect,” The Economic Development Journal, Spring 2005 2.“Constructing Millennium Park”, Constructed Ground: The Millennium Garden Design Competition,Edited by Charles Waldheim, University of Illinois Press, 2001 3.“Park It Here”,Urban Land, September 2000 4.“Lincoln Park Framework Plan, A Restoration and Management Framework”,Office of Research and Planning,Chicago Park District, 1993 5.“Grant Park Design Guidelines”,Office of Research and Planning, 1992

Past Assignments: Keynote speaker for the International Sculpture Center Conference, Chicago, 2012 Juror for the Rudy Bruner Awards for Urban Excellence, Boston, 2011 Keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the Ft. Worth, Texas Public Art Program, 2011 Lecturer for the Asia Society, New York City, 2010 Moderator for the Landscape Forms Roundtable on Landscape Architecture, 2010 Juror for the American Institute of Architects, national Award for Urban and Regional Design, 2010 Keynote speaker for the ULI Rose Kennedy Parkway, Boston, 2010 Juror for the American Institute of Architects Chicago, Urban Design Awards, 2009 Speaker for a series of lectures in Hong Kong and Perth, Australia, 2008 Juror for Thu Thiem Parks and Bridge International Design Competition Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 2008 Keynote speaker at the Dennos Museum Center “The Millennium Park Effect”Traverse City, Michigan, 2008 Keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the Fairmont Park Art Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2008 Speaker/Panelist for the US Economic Development Administration, America’s Physical Infrastructure-Meeting the Challenge, Tomorrow’s Economic Drivers, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2008 Speaker/Panelist, International Sculpture Center, Outdoor Museums,Seattle, Washington, 2007 Speaker/Panelist Urban Land Institute Economic Development Council,“The Development of Millennium Park”, Chicago, Illinois, 2007 Keynote speaker for Art in Public Places, Art Form Lecture Series Austin, Texas, 2007 Keynote speaker for the Downtown St. Louis Partnership annual meeting St. Louis, Missouri, 2007 Keynote speaker for the Fulton County Arts Council, “Creating Civic Space”Atlanta, Georgia, 2007 Speaker/Panelist for Public Space LA, “Sustaining Greatness in Public Spaces Los Angles, California, 2007 Keynote speaker for the Downtown Seattle Assoc, Seattle, Washington, 2007 Keynote speaker for the San Antonio River Foundation, “The Millennium Park Experience”, San Antonio, Texas, 2007 Keynote speaker for the Urban Land Institute, “Reclaiming the Edge: Creating value by Remaking the Urban Waterfront”, Seattle, Washington, 2007 Keynote speaker and panelist with Mayor David Cieslewicz for the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, “Millennium Park, a Triumph for Chicago, an Inspiration for Madison”, Madison, Wisconsin, 2007 Guest Lecturer for Architecture and Society at the Politecnico di Milano, Piacenza, Italy, 2007 Speaker/Panelist for the Business of Design Week, Hong Kong, China, 2006 Speaker/Panelist for the International Symposium for the Future of Large Open Spaces, Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture, Seoul, Korea, 2006 Speaker/Panelist for the Cultivating Creative Communities Conference, “New Anchors/Building the Field of Dreams”, Charlotte, NC, 2006 Speaker for the International Symposium on Public Art: Creating a New City Image: Planning, Creation and Implementation, Beijing, China 2006 Panelist on Project Economic Impact for ULI Europe, Birmingham, England 2006 Presenter of an abstract on the Economic Impact of Millennium Park at the International Congress on Urban Metropolitan Parks, Porto, Portugal, 2006

Bio: Randy Blankenhorn is executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP, www.cmap.illinois.gov), the official regional planning organization for the northeastern Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will. Under his leadership, CMAP developed and is now guiding the implementation of GO TO 2040, metropolitan Chicago’s first truly comprehensive regional plan in more than 100 years. The plan’s four themes -- Livable Communities, Human Capital, Efficient Governance, and Regional Mobility -- address the fundamental challenges that shape residents' daily lives. Randy and CMAP staff work closely with seven counties, 284 municipalities, and scores of stakeholder groups to implement the plan’s strategies for aligning public policies and investments, seeking to maximize the benefit of scarce resources as the region adds more than 2 million new residents in the next three decades. With GO TO 2040’s integrated approach to transportation, housing, economic development, open space, the environment, and other quality-of-life issues, CMAP is dedicated to strengthening the region’s communities and ensuring economic prosperity. In 2012, GO TO 2040 received the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Burnham Award for Excellence in Planning, as well as the biennial Transportation Planning Excellence Award given by the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, American Planning Association, and Transportation Research Board. Prior to joining CMAP in 2006, Randy was Bureau Chief of Urban Program Planning for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), coordinating activities of the 14 metropolitan planning organizations across Illinois. Randy worked at IDOT for 20 years before becoming CMAP’s first executive director. CMAP was formed through the merging of two separate regional planning agencies for land use and transportation: the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) and the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS). CMAP established an integrated approach to planning that views the region’s challenges as a whole, rather than in isolation, with an emphasis on changing how development and infrastructure investment decisions are made. In addition to core competencies in data and analysis related to land use, the environment, and transportation, CMAP is committed to addressing interrelated issues such as jobs, housing, and economic development.

Education: Randy holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Illinois State University and has completed 36 hours of graduate work in political studies at the University of Illinois-Springfield (Sangamon State University).

Bio: Deputy Executive Director for Local Planning, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning

Education: Masters of Regional Planning, Cornell University, 2000

Bio: Brandon Nolin, AICP has been a professional planning and market research consultant since 2006. He received his Master’s degree in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and also has a Master’s degree in Urban and Environmental Geography from UIC. Brandon has worked on several physical and urban planning projects with an economic development focus. He has worked in a variety of contexts including urban centers, suburban downtowns, commercial corridors, and transit-oriented developments and at a variety of scales from community-wide comprehensive plans to site-specific redevelopment initiatives.