CSYS Geography dissertation

COUNTER-URBANISATION IN CHICAGO CAN THIS BE OVERCOME?

Completed by Malcolm Sutherland
Candidate no. 940754259 Madras College high school, St Andrews, Fife May 1998

** Reproduced July 2012 **

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION CAUSES OF COUNTER-URBANISATION Racial conflict Crime and corruption The need for more housing Industrial decline THE EFFECTS OF COUNTER-URBANISATION Lower income tax returns and further business migration Movement of retail centres Traffic congestion Further ghettoism Aggravation of the problems contributing to counter-urbanisation EFFORTS TAKEN TO COMBAT COUNTER-URBANISATION CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY INTERNET SOURCES pp 10 11 p 11 p 12 pp 14 16 pp 16 17 pp 18 19 pp 20 21 pp 22 23 p 24 pp 4 5 p 6 p 7 pp 8 9 pp 2 3

Authors note: The original style, font and illustrations have been retained as much as possible, albeit with some updated graphs and some minor grammatical corrections. The internet sources may no longer exist, and are re-printed solely for the record.

INTRODUCTION
Chicago first emerged as a pioneer settlement in the late 18th century, and until the 19th century served merely as a fort village. Only when the expansion westwards had reached the Pacific was the villages importance realised: Chicago had a very central location between West, East and South; it was the closest settlement along the Great Lakes to the Mississippi; and, it was not far from Canada (no more than 1000km). Its strategic location would make it the Second City of the United States.

Location of Chicago in the U.S. Not long after the canal linking Lake Michigan with the Mississippi had been completed in 1848, Chicagos population soared, as immigrant Europeans were drawn to the growing job prospects generated by the manufacturing industry, which by 1900 was rooted in the city. Slaughterhouses taking in livestock from the Midwest farms were abundant, while Chicagos location made the city a centrepoint for the railway industry, with over 10 major links with other cities across the states. Shipbuilding, oil refining, agricultural machinery and metal-works were predominant industrial roles in the citys prosperity (see figure over-page).

Geographical influence on industrial Chicago

CAUSES OF COUNTER-URBANISATION
The counter-urbanisation, which has crippled Chicagos tax base and contributed to widespread dereliction, has not resulted mainly from south-westerly migration, but from sub-urbanisation on a scale, which has involved a large movement of people out of the city. RACIAL CONFLICT Chicago was always a city with a wide variety of cultures. The white population alone comprised Italians, Irish, Germans, British, Poles, Jews and other Eastern European peoples. Segregation and ghettoism were first observed in Chicago, as were the first conflicts regarding nationality and/or race. With apartheid (Jim Crow as it was named), the arrival of blacks from the south began to alarm white citizens of most national backgrounds. Whites regarded blacks as being associated with poverty, and perceived them to be uneducated, ill mannered and socially unacceptable. In many ways, these observations bore some truth around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the blacks, who under discrimination were denied employment in a majority of sectors (including all industrial placements), often could not help themselves out of depravity. This led to the formation of the black ghetto. Like most ethnic groups, the blacks congregated in a pocket of the city. The blacks continued to arrive in droves, and white citizens moved out of areas where the black people moved in, leading to the expansion of the black ghettos (see figures over-page).

Proportion of blacks (1870 1930); expansion of black ghettos (1900 1930)

CRIME AND CORRUPTION These problems have supposedly existed in Chicago since the first black community was being created: the first major incidences of violence erupted shortly after WW1 when whites tried to prevent the black communities from expanding further. Manipulation of the legal system by gangsters and black marketers either through racial discrimination on behalf of housing and education, or on behalf of drugs and illegal goods contributed greatly to the citys reputation as being violent and corrupt. Nowadays, the white population no longer fear the blacks more than the actual crime in the city, which has served to degrade not only the council and the courts, but also schools and whole communities. Even black residents are reacting by fleeing to the suburbs, out of disgust of the crime and high rates of taxation in the city.

Percentage of whites who would move out of a neighbourhood if a black moved in

80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 Year

Today, parents of any race who can afford to do so will raise their children in the Chicago suburbs where education is funded and taught more properly; where the influence of gangs, guns and drugs might not degrade the standards of education. Since WW2, half a million people have departed from the city not simply because the jobs are out there but mainly to find a more comfortable and safe neighbourhood in which to live.

THE NEED FOR MORE HOUSING Towards the 1930s, Chicago was expanding steadily as suburbs accumulated, accommodated by wealthier whites who benefited from the city market. However, public transport facilities greatly encouraged people to stay further away from the dingy inner city, where crime and pollution were endemic. During the Depression and the war years, no federal money was available for housing expansion, and city inner city growth paused. Meanwhile, conditions worsened within the inner neighbourhoods, where dereliction and overcrowding had to be forcibly tolerated. Under those circumstances, the desire to move outwards became apparent throughout many living within the city. This brought about the mass sub-urbanisation, which began in earnest as soon as money became available. The new housing stretched beyond the city boundaries, taking with it the medium to high-wage earners who were able to do so:

City Sprawl (1935 1975)

INDUSTRIAL DECLINE The economic world was changing rapidly after the war. The old heavy manufacturing industries faced competition from emerging industrial cores including Germany, Japan and Australia. The employment sectorship witnessed the changes shown below:

Distribution changes in U.S. employment For example, oil refining experienced a gradual decline since the 1970s, as new oilfields were discovered in the Middle East and in the North Sea:

Oil refinery production decline in Illinois

Industry in Chicago underwent rapid changes: the pressure of growing competition imposed a greater demand for skilled and literate workers, who could operate in the new and increasingly suburban industrial compounds. Electronics, chemicals, defence, research and mechanics thrived under these changes. The new market climate forced industries to minimise unnecessary costs, e.g. transportation, building space and location, businesses costs. The costs of labour had to be minimised as far as possible, in order for industries to afford the best means of production possible. Computerisation, expansion and advanced mechanisation were therefore essential, which in turn were possible only with a highly skilled workforce. Chicagos market started to decline as a result, as shown on the map below:

THE EFFECTS OF COUNTER-URBANISATION

LOWER INCOME TAX RETURNS AND FURTHER BUSINESS MIGRATION By 1970, around 100,000 people were departing from Chicago every decade. As medium-to-high wage earners left the city, poorer citizens of a lower socio-economic standard replaced them. This resulted in lower tax payments due to reduced income levels, reducing the achievements of the council. Resulting under-funding and its consequences led to further migration, part of a vicious circle:

Employment in sub-urbs

Unemployment and crime

Higher standards in sub-urbs

Businesses depart

Movement out into suburbs

Poor services, high business taxes, dereliction

Lower-income citizens move in

Underfunding

Less money available in tax

Council limits spending

By 1960 the socio-economic contrast between the inner city and the suburbs was becoming marked, as shown demographically over-page:

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Economic status of metropolitan population As early as between 1948 and 1958, retailers fled the inner city alongside the moving white population. They flocked to the suburbs as business costs there were cheaper, and where there was a more convenient market with the changing means of personal transport and consumer habits:

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TRAFFIC CONGESTION With city jobs in finance, insurance and banking replacing manual unskilled labour, a growing proportion of those in employment stayed at the fringe of or outside Chicago. This resulted in increased congestion, particularly as the car was becoming more popular.

Location of employees/employers of Chicago firms (1960) Richard J. Daley (mayor of Chicago, 1955 1976) tried to solve this problem by constructing a mass network of freeways. Sadly, this only turned out to be a short-term solution: congestion worsened, and the city public transit system fell into decline as more suburb-dwellers took to their cars: Year 1926 CBD workers 880,000 Automobiles used by 166,000 workers 1958 870,000 270,000 % increase -1.1 +62.7

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GROWING PRESSURE ON WORKING POPULATION

Age pyramid for Chicago, 1990

350000 300000
Population

250000 200000 150000 100000 50000 0

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100

Age

The original data was arranged in the effort to make Chicago appear as having a large proportion of people eligible for work. Average levels are set at 5 years each.

As illustrated above, 26% of the population of Chicago in 1990 was below the eligible age for employment; 12% were retired; and hence 38% of the population were dependent on the 62% of those of employable age. Unemployment stood at 17%, and so the actual percentage of the active population was closer to 51%. Almost half the Chicago population was dependent on the other half working and paying taxes. By the 1990s, Chicago faced the challenge of re-creating business and drawing in investors in order for its market to survive. During the time of writing, the freeway systems were being used by lower-income workers whose jobs were in various factories and retail centres in the suburbs. Surrounded by crime and poor services, anyone with the financial opportunity was tempted to move out of the centre of the city.

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FURTHER GHETTOISM The white population has been a minority ethnic group in inner Chicago ever since the 1970s. This was the result of the continuing white flight and the influx of black people into the city. The spread of the black ghettos (and more recently, the Hispanic ghettos) between the 1950s and 1990s is illustrated below:

Spread of the ghettos (1950 to 1995) The growth of the Hispanic population coincided with the continued ghetto expansion. Between 1960 and 1990 the number of Hispanics rose from non-existent to nearly 20% of the inner city population. The ghetto expansion is probably the most visible product of counter-urbanisation. Across the United States, it was still the case in the 1990s that blacks were the main component of lower-income groups, particularly in the inner cities.

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Even though the black population have been entitled to full citizen rights and opportunities since the days of the Johnson administration, it has been suggested that the black population during the 1960s had less time to reap the financial benefits of the economic boom, which ended abruptly in the 1970s after nearly 30 years. Hence when income levels stabilised, the black population was left poorer than the whites. Poverty levels for whites stabilised at around 8%, whilst poverty levels for blacks halted at around 30%.

Poverty levels amongst white and black residents

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Whites Blacks

The larger proportion of those in poverty among blacks was also determined by social factors. Particularly in Chicago (where children living with single mothers was common among the black population, with around 48% of all marriages ending in divorce in the early 1990s), such people are often associated with low incomes. It is said that such an upbringing is passed on through the generations, and the poverty trends follow suit. The issue of Hispanic immigration has been one of debate since the first major arrivals during the 1960s, when Mexican emigrated over the border into Texas and California where they often secured more available and decent jobs. They often accepted the lowest-paid jobs as they brought in incomes far higher than many jobs back in Mexico.

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The movement of Hispanics northwards has been more recent, and the same trend of accepting low-paid work continues. As a result, Hispanic ghettos have grown in Chicago alongside those in many other U.S. cities. AGGRAVATION OF URBANISATION THE PROBLEMS CONTRIBUTING TO COUNTER-

Counter-urbanisation has fostered the economic decline, racial tensions, housing problems (not shortages in this case), and the criminal activity within the inner Chicago districts. The declining tax base which was a product of counter-urbanisation has contributed to the following problems: economic decline due to lower-income jobs; departure of small businesses due to numbers of customers; and, growing unemployment. decreasing

These were the greatest challenges confronting Chicago council by far during the 1990s, and were the result of falling standards of public services and the lower-income status of people moving into the inner city districts. A further problem was dereliction, which was widespread throughout the ghettos at the time of writing. This was the result of declining city services, and scenes of ghetto housing were still common in the 1990s:

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Racial tensions were another problem, although different compared with tensions during the Jim Crow apartheid era. Demographic evidence for such recent tensions exists, as shown below. Changes in white, black and Hispanic residence in the inner city show not only white flight but also Hispanic flight an indication that both ethnic groups tended to be distrustful of living alongside black residents.

Movement of racial groups (1980 1990) Crime was still a critical problem among the black population in the 1990s, although some efforts to drive out the influences of violence, drugs and other crimes were beginning to succeed. This was found to be possible only through a joint effort by all in local communities. The migration to the suburbs only allowed crime to continue to dominate a growing number of ghetto areas.

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EFFORTS TAKEN TO COMBAR COUNTER-URBANISATION

Despite the Bureau of the Census statistics recording the same population loss experienced since the 1960s with that during the 1980s, reports in magazines including the National Geographic (see Bibliography) suggested that the decline was beginning to level off at around 2.9 million inhabitants in the mid-1990s. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, two very determined city mayors worked hard to attract back investment into the city, and also to rejuvenate public services. Washington Chicagos first black mayor made a start. His successor, Richard M. Daley (son of the notable Richard J. Daley), was recognised for prioritising the budget, renewing the council structure in an effort to stamp out corruption, and for enhancing and expanding the citys remaining service industries in the effort to regenerate jobs and investment. Richard M. Daley also revolutionised the city services by: Purchasing the public schools from the State of Illinois authorities, and having them funded properly in order to boost performance levels. This was also enhanced with help from local communities, as will be explained later. Redevelopment plans, including proper sewage disposal installation, recycling centres, information services expansion, street and housing repairs, and also a variety of community centre installations in an effort to tackle a range of social and environmental problems facing inner city neighbourhoods. Over $465 million was invested in neighbourhood services between 1992 and 1995 alone. Streamlining business licence procedures. Enhancing health clinics. Introducing an integrated family mortgage programme. Introducing industrial projects towards companies and businesses back into Chicago. drawing

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Taking over the city services from the state authorities and Congress. Our future will not be based on decisions made in Washington, Daley announced in 1995.

However, Daley also believed strongly that a true revival would only be achieved through efforts taken by all residents and stake-holders living/working in the city, through neighbourhood initiatives such as that in the South Shore black ghetto in the late 1970s: South Shore in the event of counter-urbanisation watched its population deplete from 250,000 to 68,000. The fleeing white population not only moved out, but also deliberately shut down the banking institutions as a means to prevent ghetto expansion. Crime prevailed, and school ratings deteriorated. Then in 1973, community bankers decided to risk reopening the local bank, and purchased the community services. South Shore undertook advertising campaigns, facilitated over 200 buildings, and generated over 3000 jobs. The community revived with the assistance of local meetings, subsidies, retraining facilities and improved services. School performance ratings also revived alongside the new community determination to eradicate the influence of drugs and violence, which affected enrolment and thus prosperity. Nevertheless, detailed evidence of progress in other communities in the early 1990s was limited during the time of writing.

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CONCLUSION
Counter-urbanisation was triggered firstly by the changing economic climate, whereby rising competition by other countries facing the well-established manufacturing industry caused employment in the Chicago area to fall from 33% to 20%. World economics was still a determining factor behind business growth in Chicago during the time of writing. The economic stagnation (which led to the dwindling of traditional heavy industries) affected incomes and the tax base, which in Chicago was still critically low during the 1990s, placing pressure on budget spending. However, the economy of Chicago was also affected by social behaviour, including racial tensions first the Jim Crow apartheid, and later the over-reaction by white residents in the face of the influx of blacks into and throughout Chicago. Instead of tackling crime and dereliction, and instead of co-operating on a community level to overcome the loss of jobs and investment, people who held biased opinions chose to leave the city, starting a new life in the suburbs. The effects of counter-urbanisation neglect, corrrption, social deterioration and financial deficits are the issues, which the residents and governing politicians of Chicago have to confront. In 1996, Mayor Richard M. Daley announced his budget proposal that there were signs of success: school performance levels rose sharply in the early 1990s, and public safety and community efforts were paying off in some districts. At the time of writing, the Chicago Metropolitan Area economy was growing faster than the U.S. economy as a whole. This was an indication that Chicago was no longer suffering a financial deficit.

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If this trend should continue into the 21st century, along with the efforts taken by both council and people, then Chicago should certainly recover, and both people and jobs may continue to be drawn back into the city. At the time of writing, it could be stated that the people of Chicago are determined more than ever to see this achieved.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ashmore and MoConachay. Psychology and Americas urban dilemmas. Pages 36 37. Copyright 1975 R A Beauregard. Voices of decline: the postwar fate of US cities. Pages 139, 189. Copyright 1993 B J L Berry and F E Horton. Geographic perspectives on urban systems. Pages 325, 330, 361, 468, 479. Copyright 1970 Breckinridge. The Color line. Pages 575 576. Page 201.

A W Evans. The economics of residential location. Copyright 1973 The Geographical Magazine (May 1978 edition). but the people? Page 506 The Geographical Magazine (May 1990 edition). entrepreneurs make their landmark. Page 647

What is the city Industrious Pages 184,

P Guinness. North America an advanced geography. 189, 217 218. Copyright 1992

P Kleppner. Chicago divided: the making of a black mayor. Chapter 2: population diversity and political change; pp16-18. Chapter 3: racial change and group conflict; pp34-35, 40. Chapter 4: the Daley years; p67. Copyright 1985 Z L Miller. The urbanisation of modern America a brief history. Pages 128, 131. Copyright 1973 E K Mller. Distinctive downtown. Page 753. Copyright 1980

National Geographic (May 1991 edition). N R Pearce and J Haystron. 231. Copyright 1984

Chicago: pp50 77. Pages 218, 229,

The Book of America.

V W Peterson. Chicago crime barbarians in our midst. Chapter 14: Barbarian rulers and the citizen; page 340. Copyright 1952 J Porritt. 1990 Where on Earth are we going? Page 50. Copyright

M Royko. Boss Richard J. Daley of Chicago. 5 to 6. Copyright 1971

Chapter 1: pages

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A H Spear. Black Chicago the making of an urban ghetto (1890 1920). Copyright 1967 A and S Thernstrom. America in Black and White. Part 2: Out of the Sixties: recent social, economic and political trends. Chapter 8: cities and suburbs: pp215, 221-222. Chapter 9: Poverty; pp233, 250-251, 255-256. Copyright 1995 United States Census Bureau. Statistical abstract of the United States: 1980 edition. Section 1 (Population): pp18, 21, 24. Section 6 (Law enforcement): p184. Copyright 1980 United States Census Bureau. Statistical abstract of the United States: 1990 edition. Section 1 (Population). Section 27 (Manufactures). Copyright 1990 United States Census Bureau. Statistical abstract of the United States: 1997 edition. Section 1 (Population). Copyright 1997

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INTERNET SOURCES
http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Demo.html http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Mayor/BudgetMessage.html http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Business.html Top 10 metro areas for new/expanded facilities 1996 Top 10 worker relocation destination cities 1996 http://www.ci.chi.us/Mayor/SpecialNotices/html/BudgetRelease.html http://www.ci.chi.il.us/ Facts about Chicago University of Chicago, 1998: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu:80/LibInfo/Libraries/Maps/c89popr.gif Change in African-American population Change in Hispanic population Change in White population Population Change http://www.uchicago/LibInfo/History The Daley years

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