About Us | Services | Careers | News | SEH Home

The Marquette Plan: Indiana’s Lakeshore Reinvestment Strategy

• 2007 Burnham Award for Excellence in Planning, Metropolitan Planning Council
• 2005 Merit Award for Planning, Illinois Chapter of the American Society of
  Landscape Architects

Lakefront Communities Shape a Bright Future for Northwest Indiana

Once one of the United States’ most dynamic industrial centers, the Northwest Indiana region experienced a significant decline in the industrial base that had served as the local economy’s backbone. Recognizing the need to adapt to a new economic reality, the area communities of East Chicago, Gary, Hammond, Portage and Whiting joined together to focus the local and federal resources required to conduct a comprehensive planning initiative that would chart a course for revitalizing the region.

Titled “The Marquette Plan: Indiana’s Lakeshore Reinvestment Strategy,” this ambitious land planning effort outlines a strategy for attracting jobs and retail opportunities to the beachfront communities of Northwest Indiana and for enhancing the region’s most valuable natural resources, Lake Michigan. The Marquette Plan, which covers nearly 25 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, stresses implementing tangible quality-of-life improvements, addresses the need to increase public access to Lake Michigan, and includes a pedestrian and bicycle trail stretching from the Illinois border to Portage, Indiana.

The Marquette Plan provides the comprehensive investment strategy for achieving the ecological, economic, and social rebirth of the region. Thanks to the efforts of both the public and private sectors, the Marquette Plan will contribute to maintaining the distinctive quality of life that will define the region for generations to come.