Where Downtown Meets Neighborhood: Industrial Displacement in Chicago, 1978-1987

Economic development in Chicago: The growth machine meets the neighbourhood movement

“…The existence in Chicago of a fairly cohesive coalition of private sector interests, often aided by the public sector, resembling Molotch's (1976) definition of a "growth machine", has been documented before (Squires et al, 1987;Giloth and Betancur, 1988). Participants include the major downtown department stores and banks; the utility companies and major newspapers; and an assortment of other corporations headquartered downtown and real estate developers.…”

“…Also, fed by the economic recovery and declining interest rates of the 1980s, housing rehabilitation along the fashionable lakefront, and conversion of industrial into commercial and residential space proceeded apace (Giloth and Betancur, 1988).…”

Preventing the displacement of small businesses through commercial gentrification: are affordable workspace policies the solution?

“…Typically, this has been achieved through reinforcing zoning or protecting land uses. In the US, the planned manufacturing districts introduced in Chicago in the 1980s reinforced manufacturing zoning and provided an additional signal to the market that incremental conversions would not be permissible (Giloth & Betancur, 1988). In the UK, a similar impact has been sought in London through introducing a hierarchy of industrial land protection, but even now, so-called Strategic Industrial Land is being eroded (Ferm & Jones, 2015).…”

“…Although economic restructuring has long been a feature of change in cities (see Giloth & Betancur, 1988), the use of the term 'commercial gentrification' (or industrial gentrification) 1 places emphasis on what happens to low-value businesses in this restructuring, and describes a process by which business are replaced by either higher value, more competitive businesses or more profitable residential conversion/redevelopment typical of the post-industrial era (for further definitions and explanations of industrial or commercial gentrification see Pratt, 2009;Yoon & Currid-Halkett, 2015). The familiar story is that the gap left by declining manufacturing and industry is filled by pioneering creative entrepreneurs, who are perceived to turn the neighbourhood around and make it a desirable.…”

Two Tales of a City: Economic Restructuring and Uneven Economic Development in a Former Company Town

“…One outcome was the passage of a Planned Manufacturing District ordinance, a zoning innovation to stem the displacement of manufacturing facilities and industrial neighborhoods by speculative real estate and commercial investment. Related efforts include an early warning system the city implemented to identify and, where feasible, provide assistance that will delay or foreclose a shutdown; development of a business incubator to facilitate the development of new manufacturing businesses; and the conditioning of financial incentives to the hiring of local residents or to the location of facilities in depressed areas (Giloth & Betancur, 1988).…”