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Final Global Chicago Project

1) Top key findings about Global Chicago that make Chicago unique and what it is today.

Arts and neighborhoods culture is something that make Chicago so special and different from any other city. Pilsen, Bridgeport, and Uptown all have great examples of how impactful the art is in their neighborhoods. All their murals that have been painted on sides of buildings and the walls of the elevated train tracks have meaning behind them. Some are focused clearly on religious beliefs or even artistic abilities. Bridgeport is well known for its art and the all the different art deco’s. There are three that I am personally aware of and I have been to. One of which is the famous Bridgeport Art Center that is widely known throughout Chicago. Culture goes hand in hand with the arts of each neighborhood. Cultural food such as Hispanic cuisine wouldn’t be found in Bronzeville but in the Pilsen neighborhood. Same goes if you’re looking for an amazing cultural Chinese dish in Logan Square. You may find a restaurant there but not to the same quality and passion of foods as you would find in Chinatown. This just brings up how unique Chicago is within its neighborhoods.

Gentrification in the Chicago communities has become more visible now in the early 21st century. Advancing and bringing it to a more modern city. Reasons for this happening is there is a large competition with other cities doing the same things. With trends and technology changing without gentrification here in Chicago there could be a possibility our city could become outdated and behind from other cities. Some of the neighborhoods like the Pilsen neighborhood has a lot of gentrification occurring. There are a few new modern housing complexes being built which also brings in newer designed commercial restaurants. The positives of this happening is a possible increase of revenue for the community. Could give the neighborhoods more tourism which brings in more people to live in that area. This also gives Chicago an edge to complete with other cities such as Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles. Although the negatives of gentrification is what personally worries me the most. As we all know now how unique each neighborhood in Chicago is. All the family owned restaurants, saloons, barbers, convenience marts make that uniqueness. If gentrification expands and continues to our local neighborhoods like Pilsen, the family owned businesses will lose their business to Starbucks, 7-Eleven’s, and Great Clips. I don’t think that is what Chicago wants to do especially since almost two decades worth of history has brought us to what we have today would be over writing the history books because of gentrification.

Architecture is probably one of the most widely known in Chicago. A lot of tourist know Chicago through its Architecture. From its high bound skyscrapers such as the Trump Tower, and Willis Tower, to its Chicago known Bungalow style homes that are found throughout all of the neighborhoods of Chicago. To be more specific each community also has its own unique architecture within. This is more apparent in Chinatown than anywhere else in Chicago. Chinatown has its cultural clay roofs with the pointed corner ends. Most of the architecture is more of a vibrant colors like reds and yellows. Some of the more specific buildings like the Chinatown Commerce Building has specific ornate windows. Bridgeport architecturally is well known for the many churches in its boundaries. Each one with its own specific design and stain glass windows. There are a view religious building like St. Mary’s on 32nd street that has a weathered copper dome that is very different than any other church around it. Bridgeport has a very strong Catholic religion background which goes back to when Irish immigrants came to Chicago in the mid 1800’s. This can explain the deep specifics in the churches that were built in Bridgeport.

Demographics of Chicago’s neighborhoods is another unique part of Chicago’s culture. Each neighborhood first started with some type of specific demographic. Bridgeport mostly being Irish immigrants because of the canal being built. Pilsen being mostly a Hispanic community. Bronzeville’s demographic is mostly African American. Chinatown is mainly Asian. The segregation isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The way I see it is that each neighborhood is a different Chicago inside Chicago. This brings a lot of interest to Chicago, where as if Chicago was more of a melting pot of mixed racial demographics, it be less exciting and have a totally different atmosphere. The age range of each neighborhood differs depending on what neighborhood has to offer. For example, Uptown, and Logan Square are more middle age to young age demographic because the large number of coffee shops, and bars in these locations. These locations are gold minds for college students that are either living in Chicago or living in Chicago temporarily. Income demographic also varies by neighborhood and could be hit or miss. What seems to be noticeable is the neighborhoods on the north side of Chicago like Lincoln Park, and Uptown are wealthier then neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago like Bronzeville.

2) Compare and Contrast observations and experiences visiting each neighborhood.

There are many similarities and differences between all the neighborhoods in the Chicago. Each one is similar since it is in Chicago, but if a tourist was to notice some small cues such as the restaurants offered in a neighborhood it will definitely show that it is a unique neighborhood. This is very apparent in Chinatown and even the Pilsen neighborhoods. In Chinatown you have restaurants named in Chinese with menus in the windows that have; Orange Chicken, Chicken Fried Rice, Won Ton Soup, and many more. In the Pilsen neighborhood you have many unique Spanish cruise such as; Las Casa De Samuel, Taqueria El Milagro, and Cocula Restaurant. What both of these two particular neighborhoods have in common, although there food culture are very different, is many of the food restaurants are family owned and not franchised. Which means that these restaurants are one of kind and are more likely not to find another restaurant with the same menu choice anywhere else.

There are also some very similar attributes between Logan Square neighborhood and Bridgeport. Bridgeport specifically is known for its changing demographics, and the moving of other neighborhoods, such as Chinatown moving into the north part east part of its area. This happens because neighboring communities like Chinatown are running out of room with their growing population. It is interesting to see how small Chinese restaurants appearing along 31st in Bridgeport. On the west side of Bridgeport it seems to be the new location of what Logan Square is now. A region of hipsters. This observation I made with the increasing number of coffee houses like the Bridgeport Coffee house on Morgan and 31st, and the hipster neighborhood bars such as Maria’s on Aberdeen and 31st. Logan Square has changed into more of a hipster community since Milwaukee Ave. runs right through it. Milwaukee Ave. is a breeding ground for bars and coffee house and is exactly what has happened in Logan Square.

Bronzeville community is a very unique community in Chicago. Well known for its African American heritage and history. What makes Bronzeville very different from other neighborhoods that I have we have visited, is the mass food desert it is in. There are many locations in the Bronzeville community that does not have any food markets near. This brings a lot of problems with having other local businesses and consumers to the neighborhood to expand. This is also another reason why there are many areas of low income housing. This is the exact opposite of what Logan Square, Uptown, Pilsen, and Chinatown have to offer. Bridgeport on the other hand, specifically on the southern side, has a very large commercial/industrial district and there is a decent area of a food desert. Although this may be true, this doesn’t compare to what Bronzeville is going through. The commercial district of Bridgeport does not have many residents living there.

Another interesting observation that seems to be very apparent is the similarities and the differences of the murals and art work throughout each neighborhood. Pilsen, Logan Square, Bridgeport, and even Uptown all have their own unique murals. Each neighborhood has their own story drawn through their art work. In the Pilsen community, a lot of the murals are very religious. There are many crosses and praying hands in and throughout most of the artwork. This can convey the strong passion and beliefs the residents of Pilsen have for their faith. This also goes hand in hand with their beautiful, architectural churches such as St. Procopius Church on 16th Street. Along with the religious murals there is a connection also with the education of the community through the murals. There are paintings of books, and educational materials next to schools. Education in the Pilsen neighborhood is a strong priority. In contrast Bridgeport’s murals convey a very different atmosphere. Most of them are very abstract and seem to be located near and directly nearby Morgan St. The reason for the abstract art is going back to the idea I mentioned earlier about Bridgeport becoming a hipster town. Hipsters seem to bring creative minds and creative art. This community is well known for its art centers too, especially the Bridgeport Art Center on Racine and 35th. With this in mind the, the idea of Bridgeport becoming a hipster community is not too far.

3) What can Chicago do to raise its status and increase its worldwide recognition?

There are a lot things that can be done to help Chicago become more world widely recognized. One way to look at it in the outskirts of the Global Chicago class is look at other worldwide recognized cities and see what those cities may have that Chicago may not have or is lacking. Another way to look at it within the constructs of what I have learned in this class is what makes Chicago so different from other cities. One of the differences is how unique each community in Chicago is. Each one has its own background and history of how it became what it is today and how the cultures grew differently. There isn’t many cities that I am aware of that have grown this way. This makes Chicago unique and different from most cities in the United States but how can that make it more recognized?

There is a large epidemic occurring currently in Chicago of gentrification. New structures and buildings have been coming more and more apparent. All of them very modern looking. New denser, midrise, complex housing developments, and commercial buildings such as Starbucks are being built. This epidemic in other words is one way Chicago is trying to give a positive facelift to its infrastructure. This is one way Chicago can be more recognized, by becoming more modern like other cities worldwide with its new infrastructure. Although, personally I do not know how positive this really can be for local communities. With gentrification becoming more and more apparent family businesses could actually lose their business to these new companies, because they will be well known franchise companies. This takes away from the uniqueness of what each community has to offer in the food department. This is occurring as I write this but I don’t think this is the correct way of becoming a more globalized city.

From what I learned in class, and knowledge of other cities, I do believe the answer to this question is in our educational system. Richard Florida in his book about creative class and his lecture brought up a very good point about how largely known cities are recognized through their creative class. This basically means the more educated your city is, the more popular your city will become. More businesses will want to build in that area. If we look at other efficient cities in the United States that accomplish this like, Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles, they all have very educated minds. From my personal knowledge I know why Bangkok, China’s education is very competitive with other cities worldwide. Also Bangkok most people have heard or know about. This also is similar with many Japanese cities. I am not sure if the education of the demographic is genetic or not, but I do believe it is through the education of the schools. If Chicago focused their money, and their creative brain power into Chicago Public Schools I do believe Chicago can become a more known city globally.

Lastly, some other cities that I am aware of that are very well known is Paris, France and Rome, Venice, and Florence, in Italy. All these cities can be considered global cities but in my eyes not necessarily because of its education like China’s cities, but because of its unique architecture, rich history, and beautiful artwork. If these cities have been globally popular with their artwork and architecture can Chicago do the same? I do believe Chicago already has the architecture, although very different from what Venice, Italy has to offer. And I also think Chicago has great creative minds creating great artwork as well. Many of these artist coming from a very hipster background. In this view maybe we should embrace the hipster communities and there artwork more, and not drive them out with gentrification that is occurring today. This way over time the artwork of the hipster communities can help bring Chicago more into the focus of a global city like Paris, France.