Your welcome Mr. Engstrom

1. Unit 7 PBL
Adam Bjelland

2. CHICAGO

3. 2) Understand why your city was established where it was. In
written and visual formats, you need to describe the
economic development of your city (growth in public
transportation, airports, roads and other infrastructure
components) from the founding of your city to present day.
How have improvements in infrastructure in your city
impacted the population?

4. Chicago was established as a city in 1837, primarily situated to accommodate all of the
available trade routes as the rest of America began to move west. After the civil war,
Chicago began to advance in manufacturing and became one of the biggest
manufacturing cities in the U.S. The distribution of the industries was dense, and
centered around the CBD, while remaining urban-oriented. Although Chicago still used
its many waterways, the second half of the twentieth century, initiated a change. As the
American family adopted the car, more, and more. The structure of the city was
remolded to fit the needs of the average driver. Many highways and roads were built to
accommodate all of the vehicles on the roads. Also, railroads that were once the biggest
transportation of people and freight in Chicago, lost a lot of passengers after WW2. This
resulted in the beginning of its freight dominated railways. As the train transportation
dropped off, the air travel business began to develop its wings. Around this time, the city
hit its all-time high population. After transportation became less of a factor, many people
could live near the suburbs and choose to commute to work in the city. This led to a
slow, but steady decline in the city population since about the 1950’s.

5. Around the 2000’s, the Air travel industry was booming, taking thousands of travelers
and tons of freight. The steel crate, became a big part of transport around the world, on
ground, air, and sea. The “American Dream” was still in the suburbs, and people still
commuted in cars, or they could take a train/bus provided by the city, to help the large
number of people outside of the city get in and around. As for the makeup of the city,
from its once all industrial faze, it moved to a consumer dominated Area, with tall office
buildings and shops built all around. These buildings were densely clustered and
followed a ring shape around the CBD area. These areas provided lots of jobs, and lead
to the first major increase in population since the 1950’s.. Today, Chicago is a hub,
where over 50% of all U.S. trains pass through regularly. The airports of Chicago
transports massive amounts of people and cargo everyday, with complex planes and
advanced technologies. Also, the roads and highways of Chicago are packed with cars,
every day, contributing to traffic.

6. The city is also comprised of toll roads, that cost a small fee to travel on, to
maintain the upkeep of the roads/toll ways, which discourages some people from
using them. This has not been convenient, so many people chose reside in
suburban areas and commute to their jobs, as the city is in another population
drop-off. For people in the city, they use the services of public transportation, or
walk/bike to their destinations, opposed to driving in a car.

9. Map of
Chicago
2017

10. Chicago
2008

11. Midway airport 2010

13. 4) Understand urban models and how they are used.
A. Determine which urban model your city portrays (Burgess
Concentric-Zone Model, Hoyt’s Sector Model, or Harris-
Ullman’s Multiple-Nuclei Model). Create a map that highlights
ALL OF THE

14. Zone 5: Commuter zone

15. ZONE 4 ~ SUBURBS/ZONE OF BETTER RESIDENTS

16. ZONE 3 WORKING CLASS AREA

17. ZONE 2 ~ ZONE OF TRANSITION(Green)

18. ZONE 1 ~ CDB(CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT[Blue])

19. 4B
Understand WHY your city DOES NOT exemplify the other
two main urban models. Be able to elaborate on why your city
fits one of the models more than the other two models. Again,
pictures and maps to validate your claims will aid in this
process.

20. In the picture shown below, the shape mostly resembles the shape of a circle/semicircle. This is main, but
not the only reason Chicago fits the concentric model. It doesn’t fit the multiple nuclei theory, because
Chicago’s CBD is the node in which other services surround, not multiple nodes. The city follows the Hoyt
model closely, with the higher class residential to the north and the factories that make a v across
downtown. But the one flaw comes with looking how the middle and lower class are on opposite sides of
the city, and in Chicago, they are packed together. There is a larger discrepancy between higher to middle
class the middle to low class in terms of spatial distribution in Chicago. Finally, the reason why Chicago
fully fits the model, is its shape, and position near lake Michigan, that allows people from nearly all
directions enter the center focal point(CBD). The area has a well distributed pattern between working
class and suburban people, with larger yards and abilities to drive to work, and finally the commuter zone,
that may have a long drive or even a train ride to get to work every day. All of these zones, create a
relative semicircle that sums up the city of Chicago and its place as a concentric zone city, while also
being close to a Hoyt as

21. 5.
Understand the three main economic activities in your urban area
by sector. For instance, you need to identify the main primary
sector economic activity (agriculture – what crop, or mining – what
mineral or resource). Then you need to identify the main
secondary sector economic activity for your urban area
(manufacturing), and lastly, the main tertiary sector economic
activity (services). Provide statistics and visuals where applicable.

22. Primary sector
While the within the city limits, there is little agriculture, it benefits heavily
from it. This benefit is through transportation of grains, meat and other
crops, to other major cities for redistribution or consumption. Thanks to
Chicago’s major Highways, railways, and airports, the transportation
option to other markets in nearly endless. The two main airports, O’Hare
and Midway see millions every day, in addition to the heavy agriculture
transport, as well as its interstate highways, and freight trains accounting
for lots of traffic.

23. The following are screenshots of statistics from the Illinois department of
agriculture

25. Secondary
As for the secondary sector, Chicago is a very
big player when it comes to manufacturing, so it
has a lot more manufacturing plants, than
agricultural land. The most prominent
manufacturing type, is machine manufacturing,
which is shown in the picture below as points.

26. As you can see, the area is triangularly places near the Cbd,
enclosed by highway 290(bottom), road 50(left) and interstate
94(top right).

27. Tertiary
The city of Chicago’s’ services mostly lie on in, or on the
border of the Cbd. Most of the other parts of the city are
made up of housing and sporadic industry, whereas the
downtown area, has clustered industry to the west, and many
consumer services in a strip right in the middle. Also, navy
pier is a huge contributed to the list, with its shops on a dock.

29. The first screenshot is just of retail stores, in red icons,
whereas the second is only food restaurants just in the Cbd
area. *there was very little information regarding sectors and
statistics on the information, so what was compiled was
based off what I found on google.

30. In addition, you need to provide a popular example of each
type of service in your respective city. An example of a
popular Consumer service, Business service, and Public
service.

31. consumer
An example of a popular
consumer service is The
Superdawg at Superdawg, a
popular restaurant for hot dogs
in the city since 1948.

32. An example of a
Business service is
Cigna life insurance. It
is the top rated with
many city clients and
has a prime location in
Cbd.

33. The final example is a public service,
which in Chicago is the Chicago police
department, that provides protection and
security to all people of Chicago, with
multiple locations, and tons of vehicles
located on the streets.

34. PART 2
I organized five days as a narrative of my experiences.

35. - Note specific suburbs in your metropolitan area that are examples of sprawl
The city of Evanston has many suburbs that are examples of sprawl, but to name a
few, Skokie, Glenview, and Wilmette are all direct suburbs, that show suburban
sprawl with large private yards for nearly every home.
- Note specific areas that have employed the construction of smart growth
The biggest areas that exemplify smart growth are all of the parks made in the
city limits, to help with the level of co2 that Chicago produces. Some parks in
the city include, Arrington Lagoon, Raymond park, Centennial park, and Ingraham

36. Day 1
I began searching for my city in Evanston. The small urban area of Evanston was compiled of
Various eateries, Spacious parks, and even Northwestern University. The housing options were
somewhat small, but somewhat cheap. This makes living near downtown more appealing, due to
my lesser needs. I went to the university, along with La peep for breakfast, Union Pizza for lunch,
and Buffalo Joe’s for dinner. These food places were all within a quarter mile radius, with a 15-
minute walk to Northwestern University The other city I visited was Buffalo grove. The urban area
is very sparse, while most of the area was made up of suburban land/homes. There was little in
terms of entertainment nightlife. There were only a few stores at all, like a fitness place, craft store,
and a few chain restaurants. As for housing I looked near the southern portion of the border,
which had cheaper housing, but with a larger yard than in Evanston. There was nice housing and
nice neighborhoods, but little economic activity.

41. Day 2
I chose my location Evanston. It is only about 30 minutes from Chicago in car, which
is a short commute. The small urban area of Evanston was compiled of Various
eateries, Spacious parks, and even Northwestern University. It was nice to be able to
walk around long streets, without a lot of intersections, making my trips quicker and
more enjoyable. I enjoy being near Universities, because of the added life they add to
cities during nights and during summer months. I enjoy nightlife in downtown, which
is provided with this. This was ultimately the driving factor over the larger yard space
in Buffalo Grove.

42. Day 3
To begin, I started my exploration from the center of downtown to use as a reference
point, with its apartment housing and urban features.

43. Day 3
I then started to explore outward farther down church street. After about 20-30 blocks
I came about ridge ave, where many buildings and houses began to take up more
space horizontally rather than vertically. This relevant in the large open lot seen in the
picture below.

44. Day 3
As my final point of reference for Church St, I stopped at the crossroads of Ashland ave. This
really began to exemplify the levels of sprawl in the city, with its grand yards, with bushes for
privacy. Barely a quarter mile away, is a completely different lifestyle that has short commute
times, and much larger yards built in a somewhat small city.

45. DAY 4
The first example of smart growth in the city, was the addition of the public, above ground
rail system, to transport people from the north and south of the area, for work and
entertainment purposes. This system also reduces the emissions made from individual
motor vehicles.

46. Day 4
The next example I encountered was the expansion of public parks. There were tons
that I encountered, but will share one prime example near the downtown area, called
Arrington Lagoon park. This park was built near the water, which reduces the
potential pollution that industries/businesses. This park also allows for small critter
animals, like squirrels, bunnies/rabbits, and semi aquatic animals to keep their
habitats and evade extreme adaptations.

47. Day 5
I began my search for a job in the area. The first job I found was an automotive sales
consultant, selling Japanese cars. Based on paid commission, with paid vacation and
a 401k. The company can train me, without any prior experience which is also good. I
also like the ability to be in sales, as it helps improve my charismatic abilities

48. Day 5
The other job I found was a transportation services coordinator that made around
$65k per year, which is ok for me assuming I am a single male. The job has room for
dental and health insurance along with life insurance. This job has lots of people
skills, which I like, making the decision a hard choice. The location for this company
could be located, because the flier was for an online application, but noted that the
building was near downtown.

49. Day 5
I chose to go with the car dealership, due to the availability of the job, and the
opportunity that it allows for me to earn more money based on commission.

50. Day 5
As for entertainment, the Cubs stadium of Wrigley field is only 27 minutes by car,
which is reasonable, even if I took a train. I love baseball, so being near the stadium
allows me to enjoy the game and the life the stadium brings after a game.

51. Day 5
The other cool place I visited, was Space, a theatre for entertainment groups, that is
always full of events. I like going to events like these, where I can enjoy good
entertainment and meet new people in the process, making this place a future hotspot
for me.