Friends of the Parks

Friends of the Parks Walter Netsch Lecture SeriesFriends of the Parks is pleased to announce its new lecture series, the Walter Netsch Lecture Series to honor renowned architect Walter Netsch’s vision and leadership that changed the culture of the Chicago Park District.  The new lecture series will offer free quarterly lectures on topics of parks, the environment, urban planning and public policy.  Speakers will include policy experts, authors and government officials.  The 2012 quarterly noon lecture series will be held in the Claudia Cassidy Auditorium of the Chicago Cultural Center. 

Walter Netsch served as the President of the Chicago Park District from 1986 through 1989.   He was appointed to the Board by Mayor Harold Washington and given the task to reform the Chicago Park District from a political patronage system to a professionally managed agency. Netsch took on the task.  He developed a city-wide plan to decentralize the Park District which was implemented in short order.  He created a professional Department of Research and Planning and hired creative and accomplished architects and planners which led to better designed fieldhouses and landscapes.  Under his tenure, all 500 children’s playgrounds were reconstructed in five years, 100 playgrounds a year were rebuilt, and each involved the planning and volunteer work of the community.    

As a world renowned architect, Netsch led the team which designed the original University of Illinois Circle Campus. During his career, Netsch designed 15 libraries, as well as academic buildings for colleges and universities in the United States and Japan, including the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago. He may be most well known as the lead designer for the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado and its famous Cadet Chapel. The Cadet Chapel at the Academy was named a National Historic Landmark in 2004.

To kick off the Friends of the Parks’ Walter Netsch Lecture Series, Ed Uhlir, Executive Director of Millennium Park, Inc., IIT adjunct professor, and expert on parks and on contemporary Chicago architecture will present the inaugural lecture on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. at the Cliff Dwellers Club, 200 S. Michigan Avenue.   Mr. Uhlir will discuss Netsch’s contributions to the urban fabric of Chicago, its lakefront and parks with a presentation on The Chicago Parks Legacy of Walter Netsch.   Refreshments will be served.  RSVP’s are required.  Please RSVP by February 22 to liwazere@fotp.org.  The event is free to the public. 

The complete schedule of the 2012 Friends of the Parks’ Walter Netsch Lecture Series includes discussions by authors, historians, planners and environmentalists. 

Thursday, March 8, 2012, 12:15 – Twenty-First Century Chicago, a new book edited by Dick Simpson and Constance A. Mixon

Keynote Speaker Dick Simpson, author, past alderman and head of the political science department of the University of Illinois at Chicago will discuss his new book, Twenty-First Century Chicago.  Professor Simpson will present his findings on the social, economic, political and governmental conditions of Chicago in the twenty-first century and those implications on the parks, lakefront, environment and community development. 

Thursday, June 14, 2012, 12:15 – The City in the Garden:  A Photographic History of Chicago’s Parks

Author and historian Julia Bachrach will discuss the history of Chicago’s motto: Urbs in Horto through a narrative and photo documentary taken from her newly released book, The City in the Garden:  A Photographic History of Chicago’s Parks.  The audience will learn the fascinating history of Chicago’s historic lakefront, regional and neighborhood parks as well as some of the treasures that exist within them. 

Thursday, September 13, 2012 – Millennium Reserve, a Bold Plan for Chicago’s South East Side

A panel of experts will discuss the Millennium Reserve, a new initiative of Governor Pat Quinn.  The Millennium Reserve is a vision to expand parkland and conservation areas on the southeast side for public recreation.   Panelists from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Friends of the Parks and Chicago State University will present information on the new Millennium Reserve. 

Thursday, December 13, 2012, 12:15 – Chicago from the Sky:  A Region Transformed

Renowned aerial photographer, planner and author, Lawrence Okrent will offer a visual presentation of Chicago’s parks and lakefront transformed in the last decades.  Aerial photos show before and after visuals that will give the audience a look at the transformation of some of Chicago’s parks and neighborhoods.