Neighborhood--A Chicago Tale

Perhaps it was 35 or more years ago when I journeyed from the small city where I grew up, Sun Prairie, WI to the “Windy” city to visit an Aunt and Uncle who lived on the southwest side in in the Beverly Neighborhood of Chicago. I recall it as a pleasant neighborhood, defined by grid streets with sidewalks, narrow lots with modest one and two story homes near each other and garages setback from the street.  hence, the house helped form the public street realm.  Major collector streets perhaps were found every 10 to twenty blocks. In the language of the Neo-Traditional Neighborhood planners of today, it would be termed a nice T4 area. In a sense, it is very similar to parts of Wauwatosa (where some relatives live) or areas of Milwaukee. The commercial corridors, however, possessed a form more representative of strip development than that related to traditional down towns or neighborhood centers. For some of the the commercial strips at least the building was near the street, rather than a form which would become prevalent in the suburban development pattern in the 1960’s with the building setback with the sea of asphalt parking between the street and the building. Yet, they worked together to form a neighborhood. I had two experiences on that visit which have stayed with me to this day, and which made an impression of me on the sense of neighborhood in that large city.

Grid street pattern.

Most often we think of neighborhoods as simply a geographic area. Geographically they may be formally defined by a governmental unit, such as in the City of Chicago, self-defined as one often finds in suburbs where each subdivision think of themselves as a neighborhood.  To show how geographically diverse they may be, the City of Madison notes the existence of 120 neighborhood associations for a city with a population of 233,000, while the City of Chicago, which is over ten times the population of Madison, recognizes 77 community areas, which are often referred to as neighborhoods. (Others say Chicago has over 200 neighborhoods.) But, neighborhoods are more than a defined geographic area. They are composed of a collection of people, businesses and services. In earlier days of settlement in many of our major cities, and even small cities and towns, neighborhoods were defined, in part, by ethnic enclave. Churches or schools were often a key defining and gathering component of a neighborhood—they provided its sense of place. It was this interaction of residents and their experience which would form their thoughts and opinions which formed a feeling of neighborhood. In this sense, neighborhood boundaries may be fluid and depend on where you live, what you do, where you go and what you experience within a certain area of geography. For example, you may live at the edge of a defined neighborhood association, but have more interaction and experience with one next to you than part of your own formally defined neighborhood. Essentially, each person will develop their own neighborhood view—one based on their experience. Neighborhood is one level of spatial organization, but it is defined in large part by our senses. Sight, and touch most particularly will help form the neighborhood, but also hearing, and perhaps, as suggested by geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, even our taste and smell. Our experience gives meaning and position to form this sense of place—one’s view of neighborhood.

Suburban style street pattern

In that one weekend in Chicago, I experienced a great deal of what it is like to live in a neighborhood.  Life in a large city is not impersonal, it could be the direct opposite.  The first experience occurred on the night of my arrival, which was probably just before 9:00 pm. I recall it being a day similar to this in both weather and calendar--just after Labor Day.  After greeting my Aunt and Uncle and small talk of my trip down, my Uncle suggested we walk a few blocks to a corner ice cream shop. Only a lactose intolerant young man from the dairy state will turn down ice cream, even if the ice cream may not from Wisconsin. So, in darkness of a late summer evening we walked the few blocks to the ice cream shop, but only to find it had closed at 9:00 pm. Lacking no timidity, and somewhat to my embarrassment, my Uncle knocked on the door and explained to the proprietor that his nephew from Wisconsin (I always enjoyed how our relatives in ILL would refer to us as being from WI, like we may have been from Mars, although I think they took it as more a source of pride of where we were from than with any indignation) was just arrived in town and was it possible to get some ice cream? The shop was opened, and we ordered our ice cream cones, and of course kindly thanked the gentleman. Now, some may have viewed this as customer service, but perhaps presaging my career, I did not see it so much as an act of customer service as an example of a friendly neighborhood. This is what a small shop, locally owned will provide. It was allowed by neighborhood interaction. I do not think the soda fountain at the local Rennebohm drug store in Sun Prairie would have provided such service, nor likely would the McFarland Café just a block from my home.

It is about more than being in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood

The second experience related more to general interaction. Prior to dinner, my Aunt and Uncle had a routine to sit on their front porch, more likely just a stoop, to have some downtime, and enjoy a drink. I joined them that Saturday night, only to find that what occurred was neighbor interaction. Often it was not simply people walking by, saying how do you do, but rather a stop on the sidewalk to exchange a few words, or a walk up the sidewalk for some for a more intimate conversation. I learned that while cities are often perceived as impersonal, the neighborhood level, their city within a city, is likely just as neighborly—if not more so—than suburbs. My Aunt and Uncle could have sat in their backyard, but they chose the front. Today, our homes tend to more emphasize backyards. One only needs to think of the decline in front porches (where if they now exist it is likely not very usable or used) and emphasis on decks in the rear yard, a desire for that sense of privacy. I am not sure if as a population our desire for privacy drove our decks, or if it was our movement to decks has made us more private. Of course, also prevalent today is the snout house, where the garage is more prevalent than a house, much less a porch. Snout houses do not do much to encourage interaction among neighbors.  Yet, interaction is key to community.

Example of a snout house

I cannot help but think that the form of our development plays a role in a decline of civic engagement. Robert Putnam in his book Bowling Alone discusses the decline in civic engagement in the United States noting how it started in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s and has continued down since. It was in the 1960’s that the change in the development pattern of our nation really took off as suburbs exploded with large lots, large setbacks and no sidewalks. From there we have created the ever present snout house as a garage takes precedence over walkability and aesthetics.  Whether it is involvement in local clubs, or at one’s church, civic engagement, as Alexis de Tocqueville noted in his 19th century seminal work Democracy in America, has been a cornerstone of American democracy, and as a nation we have moved away from that engagement. Time will tell whether current interactions via Facebook, twitter and the like can bring about a new level of community interaction and involvement. Our form of development may be one factor in the decline, or it may not be at all, as correlation is not necessarily causation. Yes, there are outliers, where bowling is not alone, where engagement occurs, but as Putnam’s research shows, the decline is prevalent across varied demographic groups. But I saw engagement well at work on that late summer evening on South Claremont Drive in Chicago years ago. Modest homes closely spaced may be an idea of torture to some, but it is a land use pattern that is efficient, preserves land, but more to the personal allows engagement and promotes variety of interactions. I have not been on S Claremont Drive in Chicago for quite sometime, and things may have changed.   In this day, however, when people are more attuned to themselves and the TV (the latter being one of Putnam's explanations for decline in civic engagement), providing a form of development that at least allows engagement and interaction with neighbors is better than a form that makes it more difficult.  Neighborhoods are more than a geographic district, they tell us about ourselves, our likes, and our dislikes.  Does function follow form?

This is part one in a short series of posts regarding neighborhoods.