Ever wondered how one might go about ranking the best of Chicago's transit suburbs? Well, DePaul's Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development authored a 25-page report on the subject, grounded in interviews with planners, an index of local transit amenities, and a community score-card. The 3-year study began by assessing available data on all 250 suburbs, choosing 25 finalists. Then a series of visits were made to each of those towns, eventually producing a top 20 list of those with the most transit-friendly characteristics. In the top spot is the ever-charming village of La Grange, with its dense shopping district hugging the Metra tracks. Wilmette took silver, and Arlington Heights bronze. A hat tip to Chicago Mag's Dennis Rodkin, who breaks down the study some more. Feel like quarreling with the methodology? Click on over to the PDF file. [DePaul University, graphic: DePaul]
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