A. The historical settlement of the city: i. The city of Chicago is located in the midwest of United States, at the southwestern tip of Lake Michigan, in the northern part of Illinois state. It sits on the Saint Lawrence Seaway , continental divide at the site of the Chicago Portage that connects the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes watersheds. ii. The American Midwest has a humid continental climate where different temperatures vary greatly with the change of the seasons and with high precipitation all year round. Extreme annual variations in temperature are observed. In summer, the temperature is around 29°C (85°F), and winter around -9°C (15°F). The wind in winter adds an adverse effect on the temperature where it feels much colder. iii. After the first immigrant Jean Baptiste Point du Sable built his home at the mouth of the Chicago river in the 1780s, it is obvious that people preferred to settle in Chicago area and after the 1860s, it starts growing tremendously and ranking the Chicago’s one of the highest populated cities in the United States. It is now the state’s largest and the country’s third most populous city. We observe from the chart that, the population boomed from 1850 to 1950 making a huge impact on the population increase. However, there is also a remarkable drop after the 1950s until our times, almost half a million decrease in population. iv. Chicago has a diverse ethnic group distribution all over the city. The highest populated ethnic groups is the African Americans. We see the old settlers of German and Dutch at the urban fringe villages, farming locations widely spread out. The other high populated immigrants are from Mexico, Russia , Ukraine, and Ireland. We can say the other ethnic groups have scattered in the city, but it is obvious that all the ethnic groups preferred to be together in one particular area of the city. From the information in the link, the residential shift is high and has expanded towards the urban fringe, once people gained wealth leaving the packed areas to the coming immigrants. Chinatown has been formed not only having significant Chinese Americans population increase but also including different Asian ethnicities too. So according to the ethnic study map, the highly populated ethnic groups are obviously African Americans, Germans in the suburban areas, Polish, Mexican, Irish, Chech ,Russian and Ukrainian. v. Chicago was the country’s largest meatpacking center and the headquarters location of the meat industy. Europeans introduced cattle and hogs, built husbandries in the woods, obtained their meat supply for food. They started selling them to the increasing population. They cut the animals all year round to main the freshness, but hogs were killed in winter as they obtained not only the meat, but side products like ham, lard, etc. As the business grew, the organs and the blood were concern so the city government forced the operations to the outskirts of town after the Revolutionary War and the volume of livestock in the Ohio River Valley increased rapidly making Cincinnati packers happy as they shipped barreled pork and lard throughout the valley and down the Mississippi River. Soap and candles were added to the by-products. During the Civil War, Chicago was luckier as the railroads tied Chicago to its Midwestern hinterland so the rails could transport the cattle and packaged goods, and to the large urban markets on the East Coast and Midwestern farmers were also raising. Another positive thing was the regulations set for packing was suitable for the packagers to do their businesses on the branches of the Chicago River. Facilities were built at the south of city limits to gather the meat business in order not to have the animals in the growing city. That resulted in a tremendous increase in the business. Introduction of refrigeration during the transfer of meat, canning in tin cans , chemical innovations that allowed the use of lard in different products also were pluses. vi. Chicago got the name “Windy City” not only for climate reasons but also for political reasons and the attitude of Chicago citizens who prided in their city. New high buildings were built as commercial buildings were increasing and the wind traveling around those buildings may be made swooshing sounds to emphasize the winds. Especially during the cold winters, winds coming from the lake freeze the people wandering in the city. Also, the money power gained by the meat industry, gave Chicago politicians power to talk bossy and the “windy” was a metaphorical adjective to emphasize their talkative and boastful nature especially where Chicago hosted political conventions of the region. Chicago’s growing population, people gaining confidence by earning good money and high living standards, enabled them to boost for a good life. Therefore, the adjective “windy” shows their pride vii. Religion in Chicago is dominantly Christianity with 71%, Catholics being the higher as 34% in that portion, and interestingly 22% of the citizens have no religious affiliations. Therefore, non-Christians who are 7% consist of other religions. viii. According to the source, all the ethnic groups helped each other to immigrate to the U.S. and Chicago's potential industry helped the immigrants to come to Chicago with the promise of jobs. Assyrians, who first settled here in the late 19th century, helped many Iraqi Christian immigrants to come. Around 100 years ago, when U.S. immigration law favored immigrants from Western Europe, changed in the 1960s in the favor of all the nations of the world. This made an impact on the increasing population of the Muslim community with almost 40 different immigrant nationalities became Chicagoans. As the industry emerged, so did the demand for skilled professionals. For example, today one-third of the physicians come from immigrant backgrounds. Especially high-tech skilled immigrants were welcome to work in the growing industy. The crises in the world economy, warfare, etc. also made people immigrate to the U.S. Later, religious groups enabled so many other immigrants from different ethnicities. A movement, sanctuary movement led by religious groups, sprang up to help immigrants fleeing upheaval in Central America in the 1970s and ’80s. Later in the 1980s Bosnian refugees sought shelter among one of the largest Bosnian communities in the U.S. In the meantime, most of the ethnic groups started aid organizations to help the people in their home country. The streets of Chicago now is a small model of United Nations, where you can see so many people with different ethnicities, commuting to their work, selling their food, playing their ethnic music. Chicago Cultura Alliance and other small organizations, help people with different ethnicities set up and display their own culture at different times. All these colors of life have brought Chicago vibrancy to the city and the state. They are replacing both low and high-skill jobs. They are earning money and spending at the same time, so they keep the economy alive. Now, they also have political impacts and they are helping to boost the reform of the country’s immigration policy. Maybe, the immigrants know more than the others that, their votes are valuable and they stand for their rights. The new mayor is Rahm Emanuel has made it a mission to make Chicago Chicago the most immigrant-friendly city in the world. ix. Chicago has been ranked as one of the 10 global cities, deserved by the global economic network that this city has earned for all these years, with industrialization, technology and diverse immigrant settlement. Also it deserves to be a global city with higher education institutions and tourism. Its economic and social infrastructure has definitely maintained its reputation worldwide even though deindustrialization was replaced by the environment of diversified, globally positioned, high-tech industries, as well as to develop its financial and corporate services institutions. Strong companies like Boeing moved to Chicago in 2001 and were another asset for the city’s continuing viability at the highest levels of global business support. Chicago O'Hare International Airport is also an important hub for international air travel for global connectedness. x. x. Burgess observed Chicago as one the cities to use to finalize his urban land model In 1925. Therefore, his concentric circles applies to Chicago as we can see from the diagram. So according to the circles we can observe a relationship between the income of households (socio-economic status) and the distance from the Central Business District . The further from the center, the better the quality of housing, but the longer the commuting time. So, if one needs a better housing , they have to accept to bear longer commuting times and costs. When we observe the zone rings according to the monocentric model, a large city is divided into six concentric zones: Zone I: Central Business District (called the “loop down front ” in Chicago) is the place where the tertiary employment is located and where the urban transport infrastructure converges, making this zone the most accessible. Zone II: This zone is close to labor and markets, making use of the Central Business District a zone where many industrial activities located here to take advantage of nearby labor and markets. It is shown as “Factory Zone” where, most transport terminals, namely port sites, and railyards, are located adjacent to the central area. Zone III: This area is “Zone of Transition”, zone of independent workers’ home.In Chicago, Ghetto, The little Sicily and Two Plan area are situated in this zone. This zone is gradually being reconverted to other uses by expanding manufacturing / industrial activities. It contains the poorest segment of the urban population, notably first-generation immigrants living in low-cost housing. Zone IV: In Chicago this region covers “Second Immigrant Houses”, “Apartment Houses”, “Black Belt”. The zone is called “Zone of better residences” or”working class zone” This zone has ben used vastly as residential areas by the working class and those who could move away from the previous zone (often second-generation immigrants). This zone has the advantage of being located near the major zones of employment (I and II) and thus represents a low-cost location for the working class. Zone V: This zone includes higher quality housing yet one has to face higher community costs. “Commuters’ zone” in the model is called ”Single Family Dwellings” “Residential District”in Chicago model. Zone VI: In this zone, the commuting cost is the highest. High class prefers to be here who can afford in a rural, suburbanized setting. It is called the ” Bungalow” in Chicago model.
