The Evolving Urban Form: Chicago In The 1950's

Chicago was a densely populated city in the late 18th century, but now Chicago is a powerhouse of the American economy. The city started out as a small, but a densely populated city that favoured more industrial jobs that required factories to be built in the heart of the city. But as a large number of immigrants began to move into the city, the demand for more jobs became enormous. In the textbook, “Making America,” the only way Chicago could handle the demand for jobs was to expand. This expansion leads to more specialised buildings to be built on the outskirts of the city. When those more specialised jobs moved out of the city, so did a number of the immigrants. More housing was built on the outskirts, and the newly coined suburbs and the population of Chicago were growing. More people coming into the city meant that more jobs and housing had to be created. The only way for a city to accommodate this surge was to expand outward. This is how Chicago became a major player in the American economy in the late 18th century. …show more content…
According to the website article “The Evolving Urban Form: Chicago,” until the 1950s Chicago was expanding both in the central city and the suburbs. But after the 1950s is when the expansion shifted from being equal to being primarily in the suburbs. The cause of the shift was due to the growth of business outside the central city. More and more jobs could be found outside the city, making the commute easier and more efficient. In 2000, 55% of people who were working in the central cities said they committed from outside of the central city. By 2000, a majority of the people who had jobs in the central city did not live there, only further cementing the fact that the city had grown large enough that people who had jobs in the central city did not have to live in the central city. This same phenomenon happened over one hundred years as Chicago was beginning to