Chicago has been described as the “City of Neighborhoods.” While at the AIR Forum, take the opportunity to explore some of the distinctive communities of this diverse city. You can find neighborhood descriptions, maps, tour guides, and other travel tools at Explore Chicago.

Chicago’s many institutions of higher education are an integral part of the neighborhood mosaic. While the Loop is recognized as the commercial, civic, and artistic heart of the city, it is also the home to twenty-four colleges and universities enrolling more than 65,000 students. Contributors to that cultural vitality include Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre and the Dance Center of Columbia College, not far from the Theater District.

The main campus of Northwestern University is located in nearby Evanston, but the colleges of law and medicine are situated in Streeterville, the area between the Gold Coast and Millennium Park. Part of the Magnificent Mile along Lake Michigan, the area contains luxury hotels, world-class shopping, and the attractions of Navy Pier.

The historic Hyde Park neighborhood on the city’s South Side is home to the University of Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and, of course, the Illinois home of President Obama and his family. At the northern end of the city lies Rogers Park where Loyola University students comprise a sizeable percentage of the neighborhood. On the west side you will find the University of Illinois at Chicago nestled between Greek Town and Little Italy.

The neighborhood connections to higher education also extend to research activities such as the Neighborhood Mapping Project at the University of Chicago and the Great Cities Neighborhood Initiative at the University of Illinois at Chicago. These and other university-sponsored, community-based endeavors create innovative partnerships beneficial to both the institutions and their neighborhoods, ensuring the continued vitality of both.