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Privacy

Shape Chicago has no accounts, no ad networks and no cookies. Almost everything you do stays in your own browser. Here is exactly what leaves it.

Last updated Nov. 14, 2026

What stays on your device

Your plans, saved transit plans, settings (like which tips you've seen) and medals are kept in your browser's local storage. We can't see them. Clearing your browser's site data deletes them.

If you tap Use my location in Trip times or to find your ward, your browser asks first, and your location is used on your device. It is never sent to us. The ward you follow, and an address you type to find it, are looked up in files on this site and stay in your browser.

What we receive

• Finished housing simulations. When a simulation finishes, the tool sends the plan code (which zoning levels and policies you picked), its home count and grade. We use these for "What other people chose", the share of plans that turn each policy on, and the What people picked page, which only shows totals across many plans.
• Plans you post. Posting a plan to the gallery is optional. If you do, its code, totals (homes, grade, rent and affordable homes in 2041) and the neighborhood you picked under "I live in" (if any) are shown publicly, with the plan's name and, if you add one, the name you go by. Use a first name or nickname, not your full name. Names are checked before they're stored and refused if they include swearing, insults, links, emails, handles or phone numbers, or if they make a plan look official. If three different people report a name, it's hidden.
• Transit, budget and pension plans you share. Sharing one with neighbors is optional. If you do, the plan's code and the numbers the simulator showed (for example riders and cost, or how much of the budget gap is closed) are shown publicly with the plan's name and the optional name you go by, checked the same way. Names you typed for your own transit lines inside the simulator are removed before the plan is stored.
• Deleting a plan you shared. When you share a plan, your browser keeps a private key for it, and we store only a scrambled copy of that key. Open the plan on Plans people made from the same browser and choose Delete this plan: it's removed from the gallery, its names are erased, and (for transit, budget and pension plans) the plan itself is deleted. A finished housing simulation still counts, with no name, in the totals above. If you clear your browser's storage, the key is gone; send us a note with Feedback and we'll remove the plan.
• Reports. If you report a plan's name, we store that the report came from a visitor (a daily-changing scrambled code, never your address), so each person counts once.
• Shared plan links. When a simulation finishes, the tool stores that plan's code, home count, grade, goal and rent so links you share can show a preview of it. No image or text you made is stored; the preview picture is drawn from those numbers.
• Endorsements. We record which plan was endorsed so each visitor can endorse a plan once. Your browser also remembers which plans you shared, so the site can show you their new endorsements; that list never leaves your device except to ask for those plans' counts.
• Bears stadium picks. When you vote in "Where Should the Bears Play?", we store which site you voted for and its location rounded to about 100 meters. One vote per visitor a day.

To stop spam, each of these is stored with a scrambled code made from your internet address and the date. The code changes every day, can't be turned back into your address, and isn't linked to anything else about you. We never store your address itself.

Local sponsors

Some pages show one small card from a Chicago business, labeled "Local sponsor". It's a plain link drawn by our own code: no ad network, no tracking pixel, and the sponsor learns nothing about you unless you click it and visit their site.

If you write to us

The Feedback button on every page sends us your note and the page you were on. Notes are anonymous: we don't ask who you are and can't reply, so please leave names and contact details out. They are kept privately and never shown on the site.

If you email hello@shapechicago.city, we see your email address and what you write, and use them only to reply. Emails are never shown on the site, and we'll delete yours if you ask.

If you send the advertising form, we keep what you typed (name, business, email, neighborhood, message) privately so we can reply, and delete it when it's no longer needed. It's never shown on the site. If you chip in through the Support page, the payment company handles the payment; we only see what it shares with us, such as your name and email.

Share links

Share links and plan codes contain your plan's choices and nothing else. Anyone with the link can open the plan.

Services the site loads

Like any website, these services see your internet address and browser type when your browser loads files from them:

• Cloudflare hosts the site and keeps short-lived request logs to run and protect it.
• OpenFreeMap serves the base map tiles.
• Google Fonts serves the typeface.
• USGS The National Map serves the satellite photos when you turn on Satellite in "Where Should the Bears Play?".
• unpkg serves the open-source mapping code.
• Ko-fi shows the payment panel on the Support page. It loads only on that page, when you scroll to it.
• News outlets. On the news page and the home page, each story's picture (or the outlet's site icon) loads straight from that outlet's website.
• City of Chicago Data Portal. When you look up a lot in "What can I build on my lot?", your browser asks the city's open data portal (data.cityofchicago.org) for that address's permits, violations and TIF district, so the city sees the address you looked up. We don't receive or keep it.
• Cloudflare Web Analytics counts visits to every page (pages viewed, rough location by country, browser type). It sets no cookies and doesn't follow you to other sites.

We don't use advertising or social media trackers, and we don't sell or share data.

Children

The site is for a general audience and doesn't knowingly collect anything from children. It collects nothing that identifies anyone.

Changes

If this changes, we'll update this page and the date at the top.