Urban Societies Census Paper

The Social Structure of Cities: Resiliency in the Rust Belt

Calling to mind images of machinery that has fallen into disuse or become obsolete, the term “rust belt” is used to describe the strip of run-down post-industrial cities that spans Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. This widespread recession in the Midwest leads me to question why the cities that once defined not only our national economy, but also our national identity, were left behind. What is about the structure of these industrial cities that made them unable to adapt with the times? Detroit’s dilapidation in particular has become the poster-child of this industrial decay. In this paper I seek to explore the demographic and structural characteristics that enabled Chicago to bounce back while Detroit and many other rust-belt cities sustained lasting recessions—what characteristics give Chicago the resiliency that Detroit lacks?

Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan would not ordinarily be considered in the same category. If we are to consider scale, Chicago is an entirely different breed—with a population of 2,824,064 and an area of 234 square miles, Chicago city is over three times as populous as Detroit city and over twice its size (see Figure 5). Chicago is a city known internationally—as the home of the distinctively American prairie-style architecture, as the site of the 1893 World Columbian Exhibition, as a key player in the race for building height in the skyscraper era, as a business center, and as a hub of higher education in the US. However it was not inevitable that they should be so different. Both are located in the Great Lakes region and historically depended on geographic features of that area for their wealth (minerals for industry, water for trade and transportation), both were planned and built on the characteristic American street grid, both are economically and culturally tied to Canada due to its proximity, and both ballooned with the advent of industrial manufacturing. It is because of these environmental commonalities that the differing social profiles of Detroit and Chicago are especially significant and instructive.

One of the most striking demographic differences between Chicago and Detroit pertains to education rates. Although both Chicago and Detroit have below average highschool graduation rates, the percentage of Detroit’s population that has received a bachelor’s degree or higher is less than half of the national average while Chicago’s is 4.2 percentage points higher than the national average (see Figures 4 and 5). This is most likely due to the prestige and scale of Chicago’s higher education system—Chicago hosts three top-tier research universities as well as three selective national universities and at least eleven other notable institutions of higher education. Detroit does house several universities but none with the national (and international) renown of Chicago’s top three. It follows logically from the higher education rates of Chicago that Chicago should have a better employment rate, a higher median family income and a lower family poverty rate than Detroit (see Figures 4 and 5). This correlation between education and gainful employment is not a new one. However, a strong local system of higher education does not only contribute positively to the existing economy—it diversifies, specializes and extends the existing economy due to the diverse specialists it attracts and produces. This diversification of the economy is crucial to the economic resiliency of an area. If there are a number of sectors that contribute substantially to the economic character of an area, it becomes possible for one sector to expand as another contracts allowing for a more fluid, adaptable, and dynamic local economy.

The other striking demographic difference was that of ethnic makeup—Chicago not only has a greater number of races represented, it also has a more balanced distribution among those races (see Figures 3a and 3b). Furthermore, Chicago hosts over four times the number of foreign-born residents as Detroit (perhaps in part due to the system of higher education) (see Figures 3c and 3d). Chicago’s ethnic diversity is not significant because a particular race brings economic stability, but rather because racial and cultural diversity is far more stable than racial and cultural dichotomy. Detroit is, for all practical purposes, essentially composed exclusively of black and white races—all other racial categories are minimally represented if at all. The relationship between two races is inherently less resilient than the relationships among many (just as the relationship between two people is less resilient than the relationships among a friend group). The intensity of interaction and potential for conflict can only be escalated by the clear majority-minority dynamic—over 80% of the population is black while less than 15% is white. It is not only economic diversity that is central to resiliency but also ethnic and cultural diversity—diversity cultivates tolerance and dynamism while dichotomies cultivate tenuous alliances and volatility.

The last comparison I will draw is not so straightforward as the others—I argue that Chicago’s resiliency can be traced back to and emerges from population density and property values. At an average population density of 6,407 people per square mile, Detroit is approximately half as dense as Chicago. Similarly, Detroit has just under half the number of housing units per square mile as Chicago and just under twice the vacancy rate of Chicago. As indicated by figure 1, Detroit’s low population density makes it highly unlikely that it could support healthy pedestrian traffic. This lack of pedestrian traffic is significant because it undermines connectivity and exchange between different cultural strains within the same city. Property values further indicate that Chicago’s cultural connectivity is significant and meaningful to its residents: as shown in figure 2, Chicago residents not only pay more to live in the city, they also pay a higher percentage of their income. This choice to live in the city despite the cost suggests that there are cultural as well as economic reasons to live in Chicago. Detroit’s conflation of its urban identity (as “motor city” or “motown”) and economic identity (as a car manufacturing center) combined with its lack of the cultural connectivity provided by pedestrian traffic meant it had no vibrant cultural foundation to draw strength from when its industrial economy buckled. Chicago, on the other hand, had a myriad of interrelated urban identities to fall back on and regenerate from.

There are a whole host of reasons why Chicago was able to survive the loss of its industrial economy while so many other post-industrial cities never fully recovered, but the social structure of the city points to three significant sources of socio-economic resiliency. First, Chicago’s institutions of higher education promote a diverse economic structure that is able to shift and adapt to the loss of one sector. Second, Chicago’s ethnic and cultural diversity moderates racial conflict such that difference can propel the city forward rather than hold the city back. Finally, Chicago’s urban identity was never defined by its industrial economy alone and so the city did not experience a crisis of identity as acutely as Detroit did when the industrial vision failed to deliver. Chicago’s economic diversity, racial diversity, and cultural multiplicity together enable the city to maintain a dynamic balance when confronting dramatic economic change.

Graphic Figures

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3a

Figure 3b

Figure 3c

Figure 3d

Figure 4: 2000 Census Data
Figure 5: 2005-2009 Census

Sources Consulted

US Census Data

Bright, David. "Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America's Rust Belt, 1969-1984. (Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus)(Book Review)." Urban History Review. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 13, 2011). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-116674035.html

"Rust Belt." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 13, 2011). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401803670.html

"Rust Belt." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 13, 2011). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-RustBelt.html

“St. Louis Escapes Its Rust-Belt Past” 2006 National Public Radio on All Things Considered