Mixed Neighborhoods

If the areas in Chicago that are most dangerous during heat waves are the industrialized neighborhoods with few green spaces, what can be done to move the people living in these neighborhoods into safer conditions?

During the 1995 Chicago heat wave, the temperatures were high across the city but were even higher in the neighborhoods that tended to have less parks and trees and more factories, concrete, and smokestacks.  This is because parks and trees and vegetation soak up heat from the sun and make it less uncomfortable for the people living in the area.  The neighborhoods without these luxuries tend to be the neighborhoods with more public housing and relatively low property values such as the former Cabrini Green and Englewood.

One commonly discussed solution to moving people from these neighborhoods out of dangerous conditions is to crate more affordable housing in higher income neighborhoods.  Many people say that they support more affordable housing throughout the city and inviting the residents of poorer neighborhoods into that housing..  However, when it comes to building affordable housing in one’s own neighborhood, people tend to back away from this idea.  This is and example of the NIMBY syndrome (not in my back yard

People don’t want these kinds of neighborhood changes for a number of reasons. First off, as more affordable housing is built in somebody’s neighborhood, people assume that the price of real estate for the market price homes in the area will drop.  This will make it difficult for people to sell their houses and make money when the values of their homes diminish.  Secondly, people have of perceptions, right or wrong, about the residents who come to live in the affordable housing. They are often fearful of how the new residents will interact with the community. The property owners in the market value homes may not want their kids running around streets that they worry may be unsafe.

Therefore, I believe that one way to move people from industrial areas to more environmentally healthy neighborhoods without raising opposition from the local residents is to work towards the long term goal of ending poverty.  The best way to do this is to improve the education system within these neighborhoods.  Because schools are often ineffective in low-income areas, local residents don’t receive the skills they need to find good jobs and break their families’ cycles of poverty.  If the city of Chicago would invest more in quality schools in all neighborhoods, then the residents could have access to higher income and better living conditions.  As a result of this, Chicagoans would be more prepared to deal with environmental crises such s heat waves.