Students will launch the Chicago neighborhood preservation project by examining visible signs of change, identifying who is affected by disappearing landmarks and stories, and drafting the first evidence-based framing documents that will guide later research and design work.

Students will analyze Chicago neighborhood change through maps, archival images, oral histories, news coverage, and community perspectives; evaluate source credibility; identify root causes of displacement and threatened spaces; and use evidence from research and feedback to frame a problem and propose a responsive preservation direction.

Students will turn neighborhood research into testable preservation concepts by studying strong examples, defining success criteria, planning a realistic build, creating low-fidelity prototypes, gathering feedback from peers and a community partner, and revising their solution based on evidence.

Students will implement their neighborhood preservation prototypes with authentic users, collect evidence of audience response, and analyze whether their action step effectively preserves and shares the story of a threatened Chicago space.

Students will present their Chicago neighborhood preservation work to an authentic audience and assess how their historical understanding, design choices, empathy, and community-centered thinking developed across the project.