Stanley Hallett

Who was Stanley Hallett?

Stanley James Hallett was an American urban planner and specialist in urban community development who helped seed numerous innovative initiatives and organizations throughout his career. With the bulk of his professional work taking place in Chicago, Hallett began by working in church civil rights and later turned increasingly toward community economic and environmental sustainability. He and colleagues together created Chicago's Center for Neighborhood Technology, South Shore Bank, Northwestern University's Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research and other institutions. During his career he worked alongside numerous activists, journalists and religious leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Saul Alinsky, George McGovern and Studs Terkel.

One of the key concepts that Dr. Hallett would add to urban planning was the idea that there is an 'economy of neighborhoods,' Scott Bernstein, a Hallett disciple and co-founder of the Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago, told Chicago Enterprise magazine. Bernstein, who now heads CNT, said: "Most economists don't admit to an economy of cities, let alone neighborhoods. Stan saw neighborhoods as a place where money flows in and out."