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

Volume XXII Issue I Version I 10 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 © 2022 Global Journals C The Revanchist City: Downtown Chicago and the Rhetoric of Redevelopment in Bronzeville twenty-eight remain of the Robert Taylor Homes. The process of disinvestment in Grand Boulevard while remarkably similar to Douglas is less dramatic in terms of the profits made from the rent gap. Indeed, because it is further south of the city and not contiguous to the Lakefront, the rate of profit from the rent gap has been slower but still evidential. Figure 4 shows between 1960 and 1970 the dramatic impact the concentration of public housing in Grand Boulevard had on disinvestment. The percent change in median home value (-12.7%) fell well below the stagnant percent change in median rent (13.6%). Both percent change in median home value and median rent converged between 1970 and 1980 because developers took advantage of the low prices for homes and land in the area ($15,000) in 1970. Between 1980 and 1990 a rent gap emerged. The percent change in median home value almost quadrupled (153.3%) compared to 1980 (41.2%). The percent change in median rent inclined slightly during the same period but at a much slower rate of change (67.6%). The growth in median home value doubled the percent change in median rent (see Figure 5 below). Source: U.S. Census Bureau Figure 5: Grand Boulevard Percent Change in Median Rents and Home Value (1960-2000) While the percent change in median home value between 1990 and 2000 continued to increase in the Grand Boulevard portion of Bronzeville the percent change in median rents declined during this same period. The reason for this increase in the rent gap is that the construction of new single family homes and town homes was the dominant industry in Grand Boulevard while investment in multi-family rental housing was on the wane. Still, the profits from the rent gap are not as large as those found in the Douglas area overall and east/west. Nevertheless, the rent gap between 1990 and 2000 as measured by the difference of percent change in median home value (170.6%) and the percent change in median rent (50.1%) tripled in the Grand Boulevard area of Bronzeville. i. Grand Boulevard East The east side of Grand Boulevard is contiguous with the community areas of Oakland and Kenwood/Hyde Park; the latter is home to the University of Chicago. The east side of Grand Boulevard is bound by King Drive on the west and Cottage Grove on the east between 39 th and 51 st Streets (see Map 1). Arnold Hirsch (1989) brilliantly documented the efforts of the University of Chicago and local community organizations in the 50s and 60s to conserve the Kenwood/Hyde Park area from the potential in-migration of low-income African Americans. The Community Conservation Act of 1954 assisted the University of Chicago in purchasing land to reclaim areas on the fringes of the neighborhood adjacent to Washington Park and east Grand Boulevard—the infamous ‘Black Belt.’ These actions were consistent with the cities building of more public housing on the east side of Grand Boulevard to further confine low-income and working poor African Americans. To achieve this, the city built the Ida B. Wells extensions—Madden Park, Darrow Homes, and Washington Park Homes. Rent/Home Value in Grand Boulevard (overall) -50 0 50 100 150 200 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year Percent Change Median Rent Median Home Value