City of Bloomington, Illinois

View the GAP Map Activity in English or in Spanish! Download the map, mark it up, and send it back to us via email at planning@cityblm.org or our online submission form https://tinyurl.com/43sw7es9

About the Neighborhood Identity Project: 

The City of Bloomington currently has thirty-four neighborhoods and districts mapped within the city limits. These neighborhoods and districts are based on things like historic surveys and homeowners’ associations which do not necessarily accurately represent how residents interact with their communities.

The City of Bloomington’s 20-year Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2015, lists the following three goals in its Neighborhoods chapter (pp 55-57):

• Promote creation of connected neighborhoods, focused on people, rather than isolated subdivisions in the Emerging areas;
• Create and define neighborhood identity where none currently exists;
• Celebrate the uniqueness of Bloomington’s neighborhoods.

Some of the sub-goals suggest such things as creating neighborhood toolkits for residents to use to organize themselves; requiring councils, boards, and commissions to “consider a neighborhood’s uniqueness” before signing off on development proposals; and creating more pedestrian friendly neighborhood development. This project seeks to address these Plan goals by collaborating with community organizations and residents to learn more about Bloomington’s neighborhoods through the eyes of people who live and work in these communities.