Decentralization as an Alternative the Case of Rockford Illinois

The State of Illinois is sadly immersed in a deep politic and economic standstill that retains it insolvent and immobilized with few possibilities of growth due to an excessive dedication on Chicago and almost none over the rest. Although historically there were intents to rely on some other cities with a variety of industrial products’ manufacture, by now all of them have lost population and almost all their commercial bases while returning to Chicago Area. East St. Louis, considered an All-America City by the National Civic League in 1959, suffers today one of the nation’s deepest social desertions and, from being a promising second largest city in the state, is now reaching stages of desolation as a place tossed away and abandoned by the general public. A decentralization policy for a more scattered development is urgent. From a comprehensive analysis of cities by size and population within the State and supported on a broad and assorted pool of variables, this work shows the practice done by Southern Illinois University’s Master of Architecture students on finding and stablishing the ideal igniting point to begin a decentralization process. The result is the design of a new 640-acre urban center appointed to open different strategies to satisfy the existing needs on its zone and the ones coming in the future. The proposal provides a variety of spaces intended to work together and complementarily with Rockford’s existing urban fabric with the idea of functioning as a twincities strategy by the introduction of a new freeway loop, and with renewed fast and ample contacts with Chicago and the rest of the state’s highway and rail networks. The new urban center would act as the starting of many others, seeking for a more balanced State distribution to start moving a spread-out network of growing robust development.

Keywords: decentralization, balanced development, State network, urban center.