What Is Neon City?

Neon City Chicago from Seth Unger on Vimeo.

Video © Gensler

In 2012, a group of my Gensler colleagues and I, responding to a call by the Metropolitan Planning Council for placemaking initiatives in Chicago, came up with a franchise-friendly concept that we coined “Neon City.”

Sometimes a simple action, intervention, or encounter can be a spark for massive change. Neon City was created with a mission to bring attention to underutilized and blighted public spaces through light, color, music, and art. The first “intervention” took place on “The Polish Triangle” at the intersection of Ashland, Division, and Milwaukee in Chicago’s Wicker Park / Bucktown neighborhood. The Polish Triangle is a major public transportation hub at the center of a busy three-way intersection. Research and observation of the site revealed that this public space was underutilized, but due to its location and existing infrastructure, had strong potential to become a more active, programmable community center.

On Friday September 14, 2012 this normally inconsequential plaza was transformed from a drab concrete triangle into a hub of culture and activity. The addition of colored lights and brightly painted day-glo furniture created a backdrop for a pop-up party planned to delight and surprise its revelers. While daylight remained, visitors were given neon sunglasses, t-shirts and sweatbands. Passersby and commuters were intrigued to find food trucks, a DJ and a graffiti artist painting a giant canvas. When the sun set, thousands of glow necklaces and bracelets became de rigueur fashion accessories and an all-out dance party was set into full swing by Redmoon Theatre Company’s motorized DJ vehicle.

Image © Gensler

Three distinct groups of people attended the event: those who sought out the event after seeing an advertisement, those who encountered it spontaneously, and residents of the neighborhood that typically make the Polish Triangle their de facto Friday night hangout. The diversity of these three groups was wide ranging, creating an interesting cross-section of cultures, ethnicities, and socio-economic status. In this situation, these differences disappeared. The avant-garde and fleeting nature of the Neon City experiment didn’t give people time to think about anything but the unique experience they were a part of and the discovery of newfound potential in a familiar but forgotten public space.

The event was attended by thousands with many interesting stories to be told afterward. One of the highlights of the evening came when a woman told one of the event organizers that she hadn’t had that much fun in years; and that for a few short hours, she forgot about her issues of poverty and homelessness and was able to enjoy herself around the other people in the neighborhood. Events like this that bring such a diverse cross-section of people together just don’t happen every day in Chicago.

Image © Gensler

As a testament to the ability of an event to spark change, the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce was inspired to revisit their long-term vision and previous ideas for the Polish Triangle site and surrounding area. As an immediate result, plans for a permanent light installation in the triangle are currently in the works. This is the type of change that the Neon City initiative is attempting to instill.

Since the event in fall 2012, Neon City has taken off and inspired a Facebook following (like us!). Additional Neon City events are in the works for fall 2013 in Chicago and elsewhere. As the buzz around these events continues to grow, so too will the awareness of the power that space has to bring people together and transform cities. Our goal is for Neon City to expand and inspire others in cities elsewhere, transforming both space and people’s perceptions of space in the process.

Image © Gensler

Seth Unger is a consulting analyst in Gensler's Chicago office. Contact him at seth_unger@gensler.com.