Designed Like Los Angeles, Developing Like Chicago?

• In Event: Lightning Round: Graduate Student Research: Ideas, Institutions, Coalitions & Movements

Abstract

Chicago and Los Angeles schools of Urban Politics introduce seemingly different models of urbanization: “concentric circles" and “checkerboard” respectively. However, both models rest on the same underlying assumption that economic conditions drive the development and growth of cities. In this paper I challenge this assumption by using GIS to replicate and/or contrast “concentric circle” and “checkerboard” models applied to “clean slate” cities. To control for country-specific context and historical events, I focus on Gaborone (1966), Brasilia (1960), and Islamabad (1960) as they were built and populated from scratch, with strict zoning, and rationed population. The informal settlements, that proliferated in all three cities despite careful planning and regulations, I argue, offer quasi-experimental settings to find whether 1) economic activity or policy decisions determine the paths of urbanization that cities "naturally" follow; and whether 2) urban theory as conceived in the U.S. applies to the countries in the Global South. I draw on public domain data (government statistics and industry registries) to construct input variables - “economic opportunities”(business addresses, employment data by sector) and “government interventions” (razing/relocation/legalization of informal settlements). Secondly, I temporally and spacially define the output variable - “boundaries of informal settlements”. Thirdly, I use GIS modeling to cluster settlements 1) around economic activity; 2) around government policy decisions. I compare the two models based on the distance to the center(s) of economic activity and evaluate to what extent they mimic “concentric circles” or “checkerboard” models. I expect to find that policy interventions determine patterns of informal settlements to a greater extent than economic activity.

Author

• Elena Borzenkova, University of Illinois at Chicago