This document analyzes demographic changes in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood between 2000 and 2010 as a case study of gentrification. It finds that Pilsen experienced urbanization in the 1950s as its Mexican population increased from 0.5% to over 50% by 1970. While Pilsen maintained its identity as a hub for Chicago's Mexican community, rising property values and developers' interest in the neighborhood indicate the onset of gentrification. Maps of median income, property values, and percentage of Hispanic residents from 2000 to 2010 show Pilsen experiencing increasing income and property values alongside a declining Hispanic population, suggesting gentrification is transforming the working-class immigrant area.

1. Demographic Changes in Pilsen:
A Study of Gentrification
in Chicago's Community Areas
2000
0 1.5 3 4.5 60.75
Miles
2010
Created by Miles Van Denubrg
and Lilah Wally
·
Legend
0 6.5 13 19.5 263.25
Miles
Median Property
Value per
Household
Hispanic Population
by Total Population
Median Income
per Household
Median Income (in Dollars)
0 - 13177
13178 - 24821
24822 - 34511
34512 - 43929
43930 - 54583
54584 - 69667
69668 - 95396
95397 - 177361
Property Values (in Dollars)
0 - 34199
34200 - 79000
79001 - 111600
111601 - 150300
150301 - 199600
199601 - 271000
271001 - 376700
376701 - 525000
525001- 731300
731301 - 1000001
Percentage of Hispanic Residents
0% - 10.286%
10.287% - 28.371%
28.372% - 50.466%
50.467% - 74.861%
74.862% - 100%
Void Areas
Boundary of Pilsen Neighborhood
Community Area Boundaries within Chicago
WORKS CITED
Source: US Goverment Census 2000 & 2010
Projection: GCS North American 1983
Datum: D North American 1983
Casuso, Jorge, and Eduardo Camacho. Hispanics in Chicago. Chicago,
IL: Reporter and the Center for Community Research and Assistance
of the Community Renewal Society, 1985. Print.
Genova, Nicholas De, and Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas. Latino Crossings:
Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and the Politics of Race and Citizenship.
New York: Routledge, 2003. Print.
Lees, Loretta, Tom Slater, and Elvin K. Wyly. The Gentrification
Reader. London: Routledge, 2010. Print.
In this map, we examined the changing social and economic demographics in the Chicago community area of the Lower West Side, specifically highlighting the neighborhood of Pilsen.
The purpose of our study is to utilize GIS technology to contribute to studies of Gentrification, defined here as the transformation of a working-class or vacant area of the central city into
a middle-class residential or commercial use area. We also considered the fact that the term gentrification itself is often broad and highly political, and as a result we are specifically examining
the urbanization element of gentrification; for the purposes of our study, we defined urbanization as the process marked by increasing size, density, and heterogeneity of immigrant population clusters.
Gentrification often follows the urbanization of areas and can contribute to increasing property values, displacement of residents and a general loss of culture. Beginning in the 1950s,
funds flagged for urban renewal and redevelopment began to flow into neighborhoods on the North Side with traditionally immigrant populations such as Lincoln Park. Following WWII
with the incremental loss of industrial jobs, neighborhoods began to lose traditional populations and become subjected to blight, poverty and crime. During this time in the 1950s,
there began a mass movement into the neighborhood of Pilsen following a forced removal from the Near West Side. This was in part due to the construction of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
By 1960, the population would swell, with the initial Mexican population of .5% reaching as high as 14%. By 1970, Pilsen had become 55% Mexican population, of whom 22% had been foreign born.
By the late 1970s and 1980s the Hispanic population of Pilsen became affected by poverty and neglect, resulting in high dropout rates, crime, and illness due to factors such as
industrial workplace relocation. Pilsen today is well recognized within the city as a hub for the Mexican community of Chicago. It holds the Mexican Museum of Art, Plaza Tenochtitlan,
and restaurants and food vendors of equally various Mexican regions. Mobilization and organization of residents in Pilsen since the 1950s has resulted in a vibrant environment that has drawn developers.
These same developers are particularly attracted to the neighborhood's proximity to the Loop and the new young college/post college residents. That being said, development in Pilsen has propagated
a communal sense of fear and loathing, directed towards those who are seen to be stripping the community of their heritage and house.
In order to understand the forces at work in Pilsen, we posited three questions:
1) Is there evidence of urban development in Pilsen?
2) If there is evidence of the urban development of Pilsen, what is the evidence of demographic change?
3) Are these demographic changes affecting the public identity of the neighborhood?