Attitudes towards Residential Development among Civically-Engaged Chicagoans

• In Event: Community and Urban Sociology Section Open Call Paper Session

Abstract

A growing and influential literature contends that cities with high demand for housing have been unable to adequately expand their supply of residential units largely due to opposition to development from nearby residents. Yet the case of Chicago presents a more complex picture of the politics of infill development that is difficult to reconcile with existing scholarship. In recent years, several high-profile apartment buildings have obtained needed zoning changes with the blessing of local residents and neighborhood associations. This surprising degree of community support came despite the projects having characteristics believed to provoke the most vociferous objections, such as greater density than surrounding buildings, a reduced numbers of parking spaces, and/or affordability regulations. Using interview data from Chicago residents, this research examines why residents sometimes support and sometimes oppose development “in their backyard.” This project is based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with members of neighborhood associations, planners, developers, and alderpersons. Subjects are being recruited from neighborhoods where there is moderate to high residential demand and where community members and associations have both pushed back on the level of density proposed by developers and have supported dense and affordable housing developments. This research examines the mechanisms invoked by three accounts of resident views towards development found in the literature--homeowner NIMBYism, anti-gentrification neighborhood defense, and pro-density YIMBYism--and explores a fourth approach that has not received scholarly attention: that residents may favor residential development on the condition that it is perceived as making the neighborhood more affordable.

Author

• Loren Peabody, University of Wisconsin-Madison