Jim Schwab

Urban Planner • Author • Speaker

Sharing & Learning

Why does Jim Schwab have a website? Who is he anyway? You don’t have to be a household name to do something worth discussing. I learned long ago that seemingly ordinary, uncelebrated people are doing some of the most worthwhile work in the world. This website is about sharing and learning. To me, a day is only wasted when I have failed to learn something new or contribute something positive, and often those two concepts are closely intertwined. I hope you enjoy this website with that idea in mind.

I am an urban planner who happens to have grown into a niche specialty on natural hazards and disaster recovery. I am an author who remains involved in the cultural scene in Chicago and the Midwest. I have concerns about our society’s future that are discussed in my Blog and under “Reflections.” Under “News,” I discuss personal and professional developments that I consider worth sharing. Under “Photo Essays,” I have created a sort of travelogue, or illustrated blog, to discuss and highlight important places I have been and what I have observed. I hope to spend more time developing such essays in the coming months and years.

Think Big Thoughts

Too much of what passes for discourse on the Internet, in my opinion, is merely an exchange of trivia. Too many people with too little perspective on life and too much time on their hands dominate too many discussions. I am an author who prefers to engage in some serious thought before committing words to print. I have dedicated a major part of this website to what I am calling “Reflections” on a handful of what I consider important subjects. In a previous incarnation, this website contained “Four Gardens of Reflection.” The word “garden” was intended to convey an arena of careful thought in a cultivated landscape. While I am no longer using that imagery, the idea of cultivated thought still appeals to me against the backdrop of so much vitriolic, often poorly informed commentary in various current media. Let’s all spend more time thinking and less time venting and fuming. I invite you to join these Reflections, but don’t expect me to update them daily or even monthly. It’s more important that I have something of value to say than to offer new content just for its own sake. I apply the same logic to my blog, “Home of the Brave.” Apparently, that logic appeals to a few people, as the audience has grown into tens of thousands in just the first eight years.