Remaking Chicago: The Political Origins of Urban Industrial Change

Examining Chicago as a model for urban economic development in the post-World War II era, Rast counters the assumption that structural economic change has forced cities to convert manufacturing districts to corporate service functions in order to remain fiscally viable. Rast instead argues that cities are faced with multiple economic development choices and that politics have played a fundamental role in choosing among them.

During the 1960s and 1970s, a coalition of city officials and downtown business leaders helped reshape central Chicago into a modern mecca of service industries and affluent residential neighborhoods, chasing viable manufacturers from the downtown area in the process. More recently, however, manufacturers have sought protection and support from city government, forming alliances with labor and community organizations concerned with the decline of well-paying blue-collar job opportunities. Responding to these pressures, city officials from the Harold Washington and Richard M. Daley administrations have taken significant steps toward the implementation of a citywide industrial policy.

Remaking Chicago portrays the urban economic development as open-ended and politically contested, demonstrating that opportunities exist for creative local responses to urban economic restructuring. Based on extensive research, this clear and careful case study will appeal to those interested in Chicago history, political science, urban planning, urban geography, and urban economics.