This has been a top-requested feature for years: Show how many dwelling units were permitted in a given place in a given timeframe. 

Now, Chicago Cityscape shows that information, and here are three examples of how you can use it.

1. Count the number of new dwelling units permitted in a specific period of time

Say, new construction permits issued in November 2020 so far. The answer is shown below the permits table. Make sure you choose to show more than 10 permits at a time.

The answer? Approximately 501 units in 17 multi-unit buildings and 30 single-unit houses.

How to use it:

• Visit Building Permits Browser.
• click on the Filter permits button
• select the New construction checkbox
• click the Apply filters button
• scroll up to see the updated table and the updated summary in bold text immediately below the table

2. Compare residential permit activity in two Personal Places

(This example works in any of our 37,000+ predefined Places, but it's easy to draw a custom analysis area using the Personal Places tool.)

I drew two Personal Places: One covering part of the West Loop, and another covering part of River North. In just a couple of minutes, after adjusting the filters for the year 2020 and the "new construction" permit type, I can see the following data:

• West Loop Personal Place: 1,086 units in 7 multi-units (out of 38 total new construction permits)
• River North Personal Place: 396 units in 3 multi-unit (out of 22 total new construction permits)

3. Find the biggest residential building permitted in 2020. 

Open up the Building Permits Browser, choose the "New construction" filter, and then sort the table by the number of units (click on the column title to switch the ordering direction). 

You'll see the biggest new construction residential project this year is for Onni's 32-story high-rise next to K2.

Note that this feature is not 100% accurate. We weren't able to show it before because the City of Chicago data source doesn't publish that piece of information, even though it is collected on the permit application.

Instead, our software reads each building permit description and looks for keywords. There is no standard way to write out numbers or scope, so we did our best writing software that locates words like "3 d.u." and "single-family" or "SFH". 

Chicago Cityscape last integrated the Chicago zoning map in July 2020. We update it every two months, which would put the next update in October 2020. (It's three months by the calendar, but two months considering that City Council doesn't meet in August.)

Since then, 25 changes were made, comprising new planned developments and splitting some zoning districts into two different ones. That means Chicago is now divided into 13,635 distinct zoning districts 

The map shows the 25 new zoning districts created from existing zoning districts (in green).

Although Chicago has only 81 zoning classifications, plus the "PD" zoning classification, for planned developments, these are widely scattered across the city and in non-contiguous areas. For example, there are several swaths of RS-3 zoning districts (a zoning classification that allows only single-unit houses) with "spot" zoning districts within them, for RT-4, RM-5, and some others. 

These two additional zoning districts allow multi-unit housing and are necessary either because the RS-3 was applied to existing multi-unit housing, preventing permitted renovations, or to allow a new multi-unit house to be built.

Every time you look up an Address Snapshot in Chicago you'll get a Zoning Assessment; the date of the most recent zoning map update is always shown, and you can click a button to get a limited look back at past zoning districts for that property.

Are you looking for the right place to locate a building or business, but don't know what zoning classifications allow it or where the right zoning districts are? Use our Site Selector tool.

We've added 100s more amenities to our database by now showing clinics, hospitals, doctors' offices, dentists, community centers, and community gardens. 

Chicago Cityscape still shows only the amenities in the specific categories we've chosen and within a 1-mile walking distance. This promotes the idea of a "20-minute neighborhood", where everything someone needs to sustain their and their family's wellbeing (aside from a job) is close to home, within a 15-20 minute walk or bike ride. 

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some amenities have been removed from our map – although our map will likely be incomplete as we're not actively tracking closures and removing those businesses. 

If you spot anything missing from our map, tell us!

A couple weeks ago we announced the revamping of the building code violations details pages on Chicago Cityscape. Now we've added even more context by linking each violation to any related administrative hearings.

In Chicago, when building inspectors cite certain code violations, they also assign an "administrative hearing" to follow up and enforce the repair and curing of the violations. The Chicago Department of Administrative Hearings is a quasi-judicial system that uses contracted "administrative law judges" to ensure that violations are resolved. 

The hearing dates are set months in the future, giving property owners time to cure, or begin to cure, violations before a fine is assessed. This is not "buildings court", which is part of the Circuit Court of Cook County and handles emergency demolitions and lawsuits, amongst other issues.

In addition to showing business licenses and property descriptions, any administrative hearings related to this violation that are identified will also be shown on the violation details page (see a sample).

Every month we collect information on proposed projects in Chicago that require city approval – whether that's a zoning change, a special use, or planned development. Chicago Cityscape maps and summarizes the projects, viewable on the Proposed Projects page, so that architects, business development managers, vendors, and brokers can find new leads. 

We recently sent out a newsletter to all of our current and past members to show off 10 of the new Proposed Projects, which is available to all members subscribing to the Leads or Pro packages. 

Alex Lakes, our Proposed Projects Coordinator, is already preparing dozens of proposed projects for later this month. Sign up for a free 7-day trial of Pro, or request a demo from Casey Smagala, to ensure you get the next batch. 

Your Address Snapshot purchase includes access to three additional "Snapshot" reports. They're on separate pages because we've got so much information we didn't want to bog down your browser. 

1. Environmental Snapshot

Get information about tree coverage, flood risk, solar energy funding, storage tanks, and more.

2. Land Use Snapshot

Analyze nearby land coverage (open space, commercial areas, residential areas, etc.).

3. Transportation Snapshot

Get information about how people use transportation around this location, cargo facilities, ride hail, and transit routes and locations.

Access these additional Snapshots from the Address Snapshot report you purchased (look in the Table of Contents) or via direct link on the My Purchases page. 

Based on conversations we had with Chicago Cityscape members over the past two weeks, we've enhanced our Chicago building code violations filters and presentation. 

1. Our labeling process is more transparent
2. New filters, as requested by members
3. Context helps you understand what building was cited

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1. More transparency 

For the longest time, Chicago building code violations on the website have had "Top 50" and "Serious" labels – or no label – to help searchers sift through the thousands of violations cited each week. But there was little transparency. 

It's now clearly described on the Building Violations Browser that the "Top 50" violations are recalculated daily, based on the most commonly cited violations in the last 365 days. Additionally, the top 5 violation codes are listed and described. 

Secondly, the "Serious" label wasn't clear as to what constituted a serious violation. These labels have always been based on our assessment. For the first time, we've reviewed what was considered serious: The list has been reduced to 14 violation codes, which are now all listed and described. 

Additionally, the label has changed from "Serious" to "Potentially serious" since we're unable to know and assess any individual circumstance. 

Showing these violation codes has the added benefit of making it easier for searchers to filter for violations by code.

2. New filters

A member requested this: With one click, show only those building violations that were cited at condos and small apartment buildings within the past 12 months. 

Contact us if you have an idea for a new filter.

3. More context

Now when you look at the details of a building violation, Chicago Cityscape looks for active business licenses there, as well as the property classification, to give you information about the kind of building that is there. Look at this one, for example.