Category Archives: Urban

Even though its population is stable or declining, Chicago has been building a great deal. Figures from the Census Bureau suggest that this is indeed an odd situation. Here’s a chart showing the relationship between residential building permits issued in … Continue reading →

Newspaper headlines have claimed that McDonald’s is moving its headquarters from suburban Oak Brook to “downtown Chicago.” It isn’t. The move (if it happens) would be to the Harpo Studios site, which is at 1058 West Washington Boulevard. This is … Continue reading →

There has been a large amount of infill residential construction in Chicago in recent years despite the city’s static or declining population. Most of this building has occurred in prosperous neighborhoods on the North Side or close to downtown. “Urbanist” observers have … Continue reading →

The maps below present a classification of Chicago’s residential census tracts based on multivariate analysis. This approach (sometimes called social area analysis or factorial ecology in geography and sociology) is often used to classify small areas in cities. The ten neighborhood types identified … Continue reading →

Sprawl supporters like Wendell Cox and Robert Bruegmann (and many other writers) have gleefully pointed out the Census Bureau’s somewhat counterintuitive claim that the Los Angeles urban area is denser than New York’s. Anyone familiar with Los Angeles and New York would understand that … Continue reading →