Designing a Better Chicago is an annual celebration of work honoring those using design to advance civic good. It shines a light on the city’s extraordinary design legacy – its local talent, assets, and community. Launched in 2020 as a partnership between NeoCon and the Design Museum of Chicago, the Design Impact Grant program showcases individuals and organizations, public art and programs across the city, inviting residents and visitors to consider the many ways design improves civic life.
This year, the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Built Environment Award was created with the support of the Driehaus Foundation. Earlier this summer at an awards event attended by more than 200, the first Built Environment Award was given to Common Worlds Playscapes and South Merrill Community Garden (Garden) for their collaboration to construct and program an intergenerational space for gather, play, and arts at the Garden in South Shore. The Garden educates and promotes a sacred space for the health and wellbeing of the intergenerational members of our community through gardening, engagement and accessibility to nature’s bounty.
The anchor play feature in the Garden will be built around the frame of a part of a school bus salvaged and moved to the garden several years ago that became a hit with neighbors and children. The grant helps to cover costs for community engagement, design, fabrication, and installation for the rebuilt bus as a play feature. Other funding will help to support and promote arts programming for children and adults. The full buildout of the anchor play area will be completed in summer 2025.
The NeoCon Design Impact Award recipient was alt_ (Alt Space) for its Redemptive Plastics initiative. The initiative is a comprehensive approach to address the proliferation of plastic waste in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood by creating functional art pieces from the waste such as public benches and playground components.
