Link to full article in The Chicago Tribune
The weather is getting nicer — but no amount of sunshine will thaw the zoning across Chicago’s Southwest Side, which is frozen in time.
Walk through the West Elsdon, Archer Heights or West Lawn neighborhood on any summer evening, and you’ll find a quietly vibrant community: front lawns with kids playing, sidewalks busy with workers coming home, paleteros ringing bells heard a mile away, porches alive with conversation — even home-based day care businesses caring for the next generation. Hubbard High School is already facing an overcrowding crisis. The demand for Southwest Side living is already here — and it’s growing.
These are neighborhoods of multigenerational households, strong family networks and people who want to stay in the city. They are the densest they’ve ever been, something only a few of Chicago’s 77 community areas can say — yet zoning laws still treat them like suburban holdovers.
Zoning and land use on the Southwest Side haven’t kept up with the people who live here. They restrict growth, block new housing options and prioritize cars over community. Despite clear signs of demand and density, most of these neighborhoods remain locked into low-density, single-family zoning.
In the West Lawn neighborhood, 41% of households have four or more people, yet 72% of all housing is single-family detached. Meanwhile, in the Lakeview neighborhood on the North Side, half of all households are one person, but half of the housing consists of buildings with 20 or more units. The “missing middle” couldn’t be more absent. It’s a mismatch that stifles quality of life — and it’s time for the Southwest Side to be part of Chicago’s broader planning conversation.
I’m not asking for radical transformation. I’m asking the city to let us grow in ways that reflect who we already are. Families on the Southwest Side are living in more crowded conditions — not because they want to, but because the zoning code doesn’t allow them to expand. Accessory dwelling units (ADUs), two-flats and four-flats are basic forms of housing in many parts of the city. But here, they’re often illegal or heavily restricted. The result is a lack of options for extended families, working-class renters or seniors aging in place.
People want to stay — but policy is pushing them out. These neighborhoods have become a lifeline for people priced out of the North Side and the increasingly unaffordable outer Loop neighborhoods. Yet city policies — from mandatory parking minimums to outdated lot coverage rules — make it harder to build the housing we need or support the businesses that make neighborhoods thrive. There’s opportunity here, but we’re blocking it.
The biggest barrier isn’t technical — it’s political.
Too often, our local aldermen avoid this conversation altogether and persist on governing as if outside the city’s limits. That is unfortunate — because the people in these wards are ready for growth solutions. We’re not asking to upzone everything overnight. But we are asking our leaders to engage in reform. We need them to cut the weeds of outdated regulation and let growth bloom. Unlock investment. Slash red tape. Usher in a “big build” era that prioritizes working people, not just process and paperwork.
The Southwest Side deserves more than just to be left alone. We deserve wider sidewalks, smaller streets, more bus shelters and business corridors that serve our communities. We deserve a built environment that invites walking and biking — not one that forces us into cars just to get a gallon of milk. “Livability” isn’t a buzzword for me; it’s a matter of conviction. It means not having to leave your neighborhood to enjoy a park, buy groceries or enjoy a summer evening. “Vibrancy” to me means commercial corridors full of real community-serving businesses — not vacant lots, drive-thrus and payday lenders.
Chicago needs a citywide land use guide that includes us from the start. A framework that recognizes that the Southwest Side is not a blank canvas or a quiet suburb — it’s a vibrant, hardworking part of this city that’s already evolving. We need citywide policies that legalize ADUs, eliminate unnecessary parking requirements, allow modest multiflats and rezone key corridors for walkable, mixed-use development. And we need local elected officials to help lead this, not slow it down.
Because in the end, the Southwest Side is not asking for special treatment — we’re asking for fairness. A fair chance to grow. A fair shot at investment. A fair voice in how this city plans for its future.
Let’s stop zoning the Southwest Side like it’s frozen in time. Let’s plan for what it really is and what it can be: a place where working families can live with dignity, stay rooted in their communities and actively be a part of the greatest city in the world.
Danny Villalobos is a graduate student studying urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a resident of Vittum Park on the Southwest Side.