1-3: Educational Attainment of Berwyn Residents, 2019

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats

Introduction

The densest community in Illinois, Berwyn’s landscape quickly produces a multitude of conditions for further analysis. An overview of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats yeilds awareness of the issues that planners can help mitigate, facilitate, and correct. These points also emerge as identifiers of Berwyn corridors that are ripe for spatial interventions.

• Geographic location • Access to Downtown Chicago • Density • Affordable real estate • Attractive neighborhoods • Cultural Diversity

• Local job growth • Decline in several sectors • Low educational attainment • Residential to Commercial ratio • Auto-dependence • Flooding vulnerabilities • Unattractive streets & commercial areas • Limited economic development capacity

• Spillover growth from Chicago • Walkability - 15 minute city • Vertical growth • Cultural diversity

• North/South community tension • Climate change effects • Availability of developable land • Reliance on outside communities for employment • Gentrification and inequitable residential growth management