Differing Neighborhood Characteristics in Chicago Communities

            The various neighborhoods that can be found within Chicago’s metropolitan area can be easily distinguished from just through seeing the gradual difference in surroundings.  Chapter one of Robert J. Sampson’s book, Great American City, includes a portion that reads on Sampson’s observances when walking down the streets of the city of Chicago.  Sampson dwells on the effects of distance, and how it isn’t just geographical but entails changes in social aspects of neighborhoods as well.  Each neighboring community has an engrained set of characteristics that are unique to that community, and this was manifested in Sampson’s walk down the city.  Though I have not had the opportunity myself to walk through the entirety of the streets of Chicago as Sampson did, I could attest to his view on neighborhood differences even through the small portion of the city I have been able to observe.      

           

My own experiences in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile are quite similar to that of Sampson’s.  Each time I visit this part of the city, I am floored by the amount of wealth I see all around me, probably because I’ve become accustomed to DeKalb’s all around mundaneness.  I feel that in this area, factors like where you shop, the car you drive, and the restaurant you choose to eat at, all easily display your status publicly.  I know that for myself, I wouldn’t dare walk into that Louis Vuitton store, with the not-so-high-class outfit and purse I have on me.  It’s just implicit knowledge that someone who can’t afford it shouldn’t even bother walking in.  But I do find myself somewhat admiring those walking out of this particular shop, holding nifty bags that entail their expensive shopping habits in a store that I couldn’t possibly afford.  I guess there’s this mystery with how they must feel walking out of a high-end store that everyone else could only dare to pass by.         

           

Going from that type of atmosphere to a neighborhood like Chinatown brings about some major differences in community characteristics.  The demographics, for one, is an obvious disparity.  The majority of folks in Chinatown are more likely than not of Asian decent, which is in contrast to the majority of white folks one sees when walking through the Magnificent Mile.  The shops and restaurants in this area of the city are not as intimidating and very much status friendly to whoever wishes to enter.  The shopping places in Chinatown can range from grocery stores selling authentic spices to antique shops that carry a wide variety of decorative Chinese artifacts that, in my mind, are pretty to look at but not so much useful in today’s era.  One can easily see the structural shift in terms of how Chinatown maintains peoples’ intrigue through authentic supplies, while places closer to Michigan Avenue seem to have an inclination of attracting the status driven individual. 

The distance between these neighborhoods serve almost as a partition that ends the standards of one community, only to mark the starting point of being immersed in the values and customs of the neighboring community.  The community of Englewood is one that is in complete contrast to the communities mentioned previously.  This neighborhood is what Sampson would have considered to be a “slum”, and is very much likened with the then Robert Taylor Homes.  I have never found a reason to set foot in Englewood, but I imagine if for whatever reason I find myself there, it would be as if I migrated to a different country altogether with the change in living standards and quality of life.  Though crime is present in most communities in the Chicago area, it is a prominent characteristic in the town of Englewood as compared to Michigan Avenue.  Restaurants and shops in this blighted area are far lower in status, and may not even exist in certain sections of this community.  The practices, standards, and expectations differ so vastly in a sense that one may start to question whether their own practices, standards, and expectations still hold true despite where they stand physically. 

Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, Chinatown, and Englewood are only a few neighborhoods in the city that were mentioned, but each of these examples is enough to illustrate the divergence of communities in the city.  Neighborhoods are distinguished through features such as wealth, demographics, standards, and status, among other things.  But the implication of this is that rich communities continue to stay rich, while poor neighborhoods continue to dwell in disadvantage.  One of the reasons why this disparity endures is because occupants of each of these neighborhoods are encouraged to reinforce the realities unique to their community, and because of this, people are primed to fit in with a particular community more so than the next.  

Article related to this post: 10 Great Neighborhoods In Chicago
References: Sampson, Robert J. 2012. Great American City. Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press.