The Burnham Plan for Chicago and the Syntactic Indeterminacy of City Space

Abstract

The Burnham Plan for Chicago, designed in 1909 by Daniel Burnham and Edward H. Bennett, became a long-standing effort to revitalize the city. The plan supposed to include the dedication, refurbishing, and creation of several key structures that have served to support and enhance the lakefront effect. The lakefront is the place to be admired and contemplated both from these structures themselves and by visiting and walking along it directly. This paper focuses on the syntactic indeterminacy of the transitional spaces linking city to lakefront and the creation of the three key structures discussed above.