Global Journal of Human Social Science, C: Sociology and Culture, Volume 22 Issue 1

Volume XXII Issue I Version I 8 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 © 2022 Global Journals C The Revanchist City: Downtown Chicago and the Rhetoric of Redevelopment in Bronzeville Source: U.S. Census Bureau Figure 1: Douglas Percent Change Median Rent and Home Value (1960-2000) The data point for 1970 represents a twenty year period of disinvestment and stagnation in the median rent and median home vale in the Douglas area of Bronzeville. Portions of the area were declared ‘slum and blighted’ and new ‘mixed income’ apartments were built. The negative percent change in median home values between 1960 and 1970 represented the first step in the devalorization process as housing prices began to fall along with stagnation in median rent. Between 1970 and 1980 the percent change in median rent rose (59.3%), up roughly 25%, while the percent change in median home value rose as well (42.7%). This change represented the urban renewal investment on the eastside of Douglas during the 1960s with the building of South Commons, Prairie Shores, and Lake Meadows (See Figure 2). Between 1980 and 1990 a cycle of reinvestment surged in the Douglas area of Bronzeville as the percent change in median home value went up ten times (444%) while the percent change in median rent only doubled (101.1%). The phenomenal percent change in median home value represents the profit made from disinvestment when the ground rent (median rent value) stagnated in 60s, 70s and 80s, signaling cheap prices for houses and vacant land. We contend that from 1950 to the late1980s the Douglas area of Bronzeville was in a contrived cycle of disinvestment while being primed for reinvestment that would occur in the area between1980-1990—to take full advantage of the rent gap. Although the percent change in median home value and median rent declined to (90.4%) and (32%) between 1990 and 2000 there is still roughly a 60% rent gap of profit (see Figure 1 above). ii. Douglas East To more accurately determine the size of rent gaps in the Douglas area of Bronzeville we divided the Douglas area into east and west. Our dividing line was Martin Luther King Drive (formally South Parkway). Our rational was based on awareness of the historical disinvestment in the area, south and west in Douglas— especially the building of two housing developments south of 35 th Street and east of King Drive; the Ida B. Wells and Madden Park homes (built in 1948 and 1962 respectively), the Dearborn Homes (1954) and State Way Gardens (1958). Data on median home value was not available for the time frame 1960-1990 and, we suspect it is a direct result of the clearing of land for the concentration of public housing along the southeast boarder of Douglas bounded by Cottage Grove to the east, Martin Luther King Drive to the west and 39 th Street to south. Figure 2 shows the percent change in median rent for the east side of Douglas from 1960-2000. The percent change in median rent between 1960 and 1970 was less than 20% (18.5%). Source: U.S. Census Bureau Figure 2: Douglas East-side Percent Change in Median Rent 1960-2000 Rent/Home Value in Douglas (overall) -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year Percent Change Median Rent Median Home Value Douglas (East of MLK) 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year Percent Change Median Rent