Common Concern:
A Journal of Urban Policy & Community Development
In this issue we focus our attention on community development with Chicago as the backdrop. The third largest city in the United States, Chicago is truly at the Crossroads of America. In recent years the city has experienced tremendous growth, neighborhoods are being revitalized: once depressed areas are getting a facelift and people are flocking back to the cities from surrounding areas to be closer to their jobs and to the many cultural and recreational opportunities that the city has to offer. Recently, Chicago won the U. S. bid and will compete with 5 international cities for the chance to host the 2016 Olympics. Clearly Chicago is a world class city. But there is a downside to growth and development. With revitalization there is displacement. When neighborhoods are reclaimed for development the people who lived on the streets and who depended upon the low income housing—however depressed it may have been—are forced to move on. The poor no longer “fit in” in newly genitive communities and the homeless have no place at all.
The first article in this issue, written by Shannon Piper, is an interview with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Lois Willie. Ms. Willie’S career has focused on bringing the stories of the under-represented to the general public. In this interview Ms. Willie talks about her career in journalism and the power she feels as a journalist to be an agent of change. However, she says, the times are changing—with “the cohesiveness of the business community dwindling,” and the loss of local control, many powerful stories arena’T being heard. The second article, “On the Distributional Consequences of Culture-Driven Redevelopment,” by Costars Spire explores more fully what happens to disadvantaged groups when communities undergo redevelopment.
Next, our research fellow, Tricia Brained, compiled statistics that highlight Chicago’S changing demographics. Nationally, between 1990 and 2000, Hispanics became the largest minority group in the United States. Chicago has experienced the same increase in the Hispanic population. This shift in demographics raises many questions in the minds of community leaders and policy makers who must respond to their changing constituencies. How will the image of Chicago change? How will this change how we relate to one another? Do we have the resources that we need to deal with the new challenges that we will face? Do we even know what those challenges are?
Regina Armour and Say Karin’S article provides a glimpse at the challenges faced in one high school that may be indicative of even greater challenges to come. “Institutional Social Justice” is based upon Armour and Karin’S research, a case study, exploring the isolation that occurs when demographics shift and cultures collide in a high school in one of Chicago’S neediest communities.
Download a PDF file of the Spring 2007 issue of Common Concern
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