Quote:
Originally Posted by VivaLFuego
In the case of Hyde Park, massive urban renewal in the 1950s and subsequently the expansion of the University have removed a great deal of the housing stock.
More generally, it's important to put certain population declines in perspective: no one would say West Town has been doing badly, despite it's 50% reduction since its peak population... the difference is how a gentrified neighborhood looks demographically compared to Victorian-era industrial slums.
Remember, many portions of Paris, London, and all other great European cities have seen major population declines in many neighborhoods, and in some cases, have seen comparable inner municipality population declines over the course of deindustrialization in the latter half of the 20th century.
e.g.
Inner London population in 1911: 5.0 million, 2009: 3.06 million
Paris 5th Arr (Latin Quarter) population in 1911: 121k, 2005: 60k
Point being, population decline is not always a negative indicator, particularly in the cities that were the major industrial centers circa 1900.
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^ ABSOLUTELY!
Very well put. While some neighborhoods of Chicago have lost population due to decline of jobs, crime, etc, others have lost population due to gentrification. In one extreme case, a set of 5 or 6 lots in Lincoln Park meant for townhomes was purchased by a billionaire who is now constructing a mansion on that very property. Now does that mean that Lincoln Park is declining? Obviously not, it's overrun by wealthy professionals, millionaires, etc who "like to have their breathing room".
All in all, Chicago has become a much more diverse city, as evidenced by Chicago103's neat diagram above from the Huffington Post. I wonder if another community area besides Chinatown will turn green. My guess is that it will either be West Ridge or the one representing Bridgeport, if it does. Among all ethnic groups, Asians are the only group that are rapidly increasing in population, albeit they still represent a small group.
My only concern is the very heavily African American areas of Chicago which have not only seen population decline and loss of housing stock, but some are basically gang warfare zones at this point. I really don't see anything resembling a good future for these areas for many, many years to come.