Chicago: A great urban area

Chicago, as a city, is an urban area. That means that many people and buildings are crowded into a restricted space. In some ways this is good, and some ways not so good.

One way it is good is that there are many cultural elements — there are many museums, theatres, clubs, schools of all sorts, and so on. This makes Chicago an exciting place to be — there is always something of interest going on. Another good thing is that with many buildings come many interesting buildings. We have tall buildings, short buildings, fancy ones and plain ones. Variety generally makes life interesting. Speaking of variety, there are many different types of people that live here. In fact, the people of Chicago are its real strength. Chicago has at least 33 clearly-defined neighborhoods. The city has long been known as a center of immigration and cultural diversity. In 1900, 75% of Chicago was born in a foreign country! Today, that's much less true, but still immigrants come over every day, bringing with them interesting traditions, great foods, and different languages. Chicago is especially known for its large populations of :
African-Americans (a center of the Great Migration, today Chicago is 40% African-American and is second to New York City in black population);
Polish-Americans (the 2nd largest Polish population in the world outside of Warsaw, Poland!);
Mexican-Americans (2nd largest population in the country);
Indian-Americans (not the same as "Indian-Americans", but people from India; the city's population has been growing quickly since the 1970s);
Irish-Americans (the nation's largest population);
and German-Americans (the largest white ethnic group in Chicago).
Some negative things about urban life are, first, that it gets pretty crowded at times. There are an awful lot of people crunched into small areas. This also leads to a second negative thing: crime. Crime is especially likely because in a large city, people in poverty are forced to live near people with lots of money. This is frustrating, and the problem will exist as long as governments do not respond to the needs of those in poverty. Similarly, another problem is homelessness and other effects of poverty. Smaller cities and towns have poverty as well, but sometimes are better able to deal with the issue. Large cities face many, many people who need help. Sometimes people are attracted to big cities because they think they will have an easier time finding a job; but when they get here, they learn that big cities cost a lot of money to live in, which adds to their problems. Finally, urban areas often don't have as many green areas — places with trees and plants, like forests and parks — as they should. People are more concerned about building more tall buildings or making parking lots.
However, it does not have to be this way. Cities handle their problems differently. For example, those in city government, like Mayor Daley, are doing a better job recently of making more green areas. But Chicago has a long way to go, especially in dealing fairly with people in poverty and people of many different ethnic backgrounds.

Chicago and its surrounding suburbs play a big role in the state of Illinois because they have most of the population — about 70% of it.

Some unique features about Chicago's geography are its flatness (which makes it a great city for bicycling — no hills to climb!), Lake Michigan, and the Chicago River. The lake and the river provide two different sorts of water source, and not only provide water for us to drink, but are wonderful for recreation and just for their beauty.
Before the Europeans came and Chicago developed, the area was a swamp, with sand dunes on the north and south ends. It is believed that the name "Chicago" was Native American for "stinking onion", due to common native plants. The lake was also much further in — where Jackson Park is now, it once was lake! And the Chicago River used to flow the opposite direction — into Lake Michigan. In the late 1800s, the city reversed the direction so sewage that was dumped into the river would not go into the lake, where Chicagoans got their drinking water. (Can you imagine changing the way a river's water flows? What a project!) The river before it reversed was a slow little stream, not the more powerful river it is today.

One thing that is pretty much the same is the weather. Chicago is known for being the Windy City, and it is very windy. This is partly because the lake creates winds that blow in. It also has very warm and humid summers, and very cold winters. Generally, Chicago has unpredictable and diverse weather. There are also many nice days, especially in the spring and fall.

After many years of scarce wildlife, some animals are making a comeback in Chicago. Among the animals that have adapted to city life are skunks and opossums. In recent years, deer have been found in Lincoln Park, which is miles from the nearest forest! And a coyote was discovered to be roaming around the Gold Coast area.

Chicago covers 228 square miles, and is 25 miles long and 15 miles wide.

For more information on Chicago, visit Ms. Palmer's Chicago website.

 

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