News Innovation

Despite the odds, Chicago has become a rallying point for programmer-journalists who are shaping the future of news. (Image: Daniel X. O’Neil CC-by)

Community Responses to Foreclosure Crisis

The long, drawn-out foreclosure crisis continues to hamper the nation’s economic recovery – and continues to drag down Chicago communities as it spreads to more affluent areas of the city. Chicago organizers are responding. (Image: Eric Allix Rogers CC-by-nc-sa)

Transportation

America’s Golden Funnel – a mega-port through which the bounty of a fruited midcontinent flowed east and finished goods west. First by water and later by rail, semitrailer and jetliner. (Image: John W. Iwanski CC by/nc)

Sustainable Chicago

What do the New York Times, National Geographic, and the environmental news site Grist have in common? They’ve all cited Chicago as one of the world’s greenest cities. Despite its “big shoulders” industrial heritage, Chicago has worked hard to become green, sustainable, and livable. (Image: Josh Mogerman CC by/nc/sa)

Chicago Theater

Chicago has the largest African-American theater community in the United States, and no less than five Tony Award winning companies. (Image: OutofChicago.com CC by/sa/nc)

Chicago Music

The neighborhood influence on Chicago music is so strong that even the major downtown institutions feel its gravitational pull. Since the days when King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines made Bronzeville a jazz mecca, music innovations have come from Chicago neighborhoods. (Image: NRKP3)

The Intellectual Crossroads

The brawling, hog-butchering, blue-collar factory town of the 19th century has evolved into a formidable, world-class center for scientific and intellectual creativity. (Image: Argonne National Laboratory)

The Fight for Affordable Housing

Chicago’s shortage of affordable housing has only grown during the past decade, both during the housing boom, with rentals converted to condos, and since the crash, with tens of thousands of apartment buildings falling into foreclosure. Organizers are pushing back. (Image: Justin Kern CC by-sa-nc)

Startup Chicago

A growing hive of Chicago tech startups are benefiting from a new ecosystem of mentors, boosters and funders. (Image: needoptic CC by/sa)

Corporate Innovation

The commercial capital city of America periodically reinvents itself in new waves of entrepreneurial innovation. And the surf is up again on the country’s freshwater third coast. (Image: Brian Koprowski CC by/nc/sa)