Chicago's Industrial Decline - by Robert Lewis (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book outlines the decline of Chicago's industrial base and the rise of the suburbs as a substantial industrial district between 1920 and 1975, explores the attempts by the city's political and business leaders to deal with industrial decline, and shows why these initiatives have failed"--

Book Synopsis

In Chicago's Industrial Decline Robert Lewis charts the city's decline since the 1920s and describes the early development of Chicago's famed (and reviled) growth machine. Beginning in the 1940s and led by local politicians, downtown business interest, financial institutions, and real estate groups, place-dependent organizations in Chicago implemented several industrial renewal initiatives with the dual purpose of stopping factory closings and attracting new firms in order to turn blighted property into modern industrial sites. At the same time, a more powerful coalition sought to adapt the urban fabric to appeal to middle-class consumption and residential living. As Lewis shows, the two aims were never well integrated, and the result was on-going disinvestment and the inexorable decline of Chicago's industrial space.

By the 1950s, Lewis argues, it was evident that the early incarnation of the growth machine had failed to maintain Chicago's economic center in industry. Although larger economic and social forces--specifically, competition for business and for residential development from the suburbs in the Chicagoland region and across the whole United States--played a role in the city's industrial decline, Lewis stresses the deep incoherence of post-WWII economic policy and urban planning that hoped to square the circle by supporting both heavy industry and middle- to upper-class amenities in downtown Chicago.

Review Quotes

As Lewis demonstrates in this insightful case study, between 1879 and 1919, 75 percent of the 430,000 new manufacturing jobs created in the metropolitan area were within city limits. The author focuses on the slow but cumulatively significant decline that began around 1920, so that by 1972 manufacturing employment had decreased by more than 25 percent. Many locally established industries and new ones alike relocated to outlying areas, especially after WWII. Lewis explores the reasons for this shift; however, the most important aspect of his project is his analysis of the complicated factors related to why concerted efforts to rejuvenate industrial development fell far short of expectations. Urbanists, planners, and historians should find this book valuable.

-- "Choice"

About the Author

Robert Lewis is Professor of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Chicago Made, Calculating Property Relations, and Manufacturing Montreal.