Publication Date
2024
Placement
First Prize
Class Year
2024
Department
Urban Studies
Advisor
Alan Plattus
Abstract
The West Loop has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last forty years, having re-developed from an impoverished and declining industrial area to Chicago’s fastest-growing real estate market, the city’s technology center, and a model mixed-use neighborhood. Focusing on the displacement of the area’s industrial base from the late 1980s to the current day, this thesis investigates the changing relationship between the City of Chicago, real estate developers, and local businesses and stakeholders to contend that this ongoing re-development process is a form of gentrification often overlooked in urbanist literature and within the narrative of its own transformation. The West Loop’s re-development is indicative of 21st century municipal governments’ pro-development, laissez-faire approach to large-scale, forward-looking urban planning, creating an increasingly larger role for real estate developers to influence how American cities are developing today and for the future.
Recommended Citation
McGowan, Nick, "Rebirth: Investigating Industrial Gentrification and Land Use Policy in Chicago's West Loop" (2024). Library Map Prize. 18.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/library_map_prize/18