Mapping a Better Tommorow

This unit in Thin Red Lines, my class learned about the importance of maps. Before this class, I had always thought of maps as just being a tool to get around the city. But after taking this class, my idea about maps have broadened. Maps can be used as a tool to get around, more importantly, they tell a story.  Maps can tell an interesting story, meaning having one perspective; it's important how you map an area because it can skew your idea about a place. Thin Red Lines has been an exciting class, one FE I really enjoyed was going to Google. We went to Google to talk and ask questions to people who worked with Waze and partnered with Google. I learned that although they'd like to map history and important information regarding each community, it is hard to make a functioning map that helps people get around as well as tell information. For this AP,  I had to create 3 separate maps about a specific community by representing and revolving conflicts amongst the people who live there. This AP took lots of researching for data and choosing which data best improved my argument. In the end, I think my final AP came out decent. Below are my maps, enjoy!


Map 1:


The first map of Bronzeville displays what type of assets are in the neighborhood. As a cartographer. I wanted to accurately portray Bronzeville as what it is; to get exact locations I explored Google Maps and searched for locations where there are vacant lots, stores, high schools, etc. Vacant lands are black on the map, hospitals are in navy, TIF in brown,  Liquor stores in red, fast food restaurants in yellow, and high schools in white. In Bronzeville, there a lot of vacant spaces, this shows that developers aren’t investing in the area. These mass amounts of vacant lots also make the area look blighted; it makes others and the people who live in that area think negatively about Bronzeville. The Bronzeville TIF only covers a small part of the neighborhood, where the entire area is in desperate need of help. I decided to map the green and red line to show that there are train stations near. Transportation is important for every neighborhood, it allows people to travel around the city for opportunities. I mapped high schools in the area to show there are a few high schools in the area. After looking at each schools’ stats on Niche, I found but they aren’t performing as well as schools in the city. I asked my family members if they could fix something about Bronzeville what it would be, my mom said that she wished there were more grocery stores with better food options like Trader Joes or Whole Foods. She said that she ends up buying a lot of snacks instead of food when she shops at Walgreens or Marianos. I decided to include grocery stores on my map to show that there aren’t enough grocery stores to supply food for the number of people or families living in Bronzeville. As you can see, there is more fast food restaurant than there are grocery stores, where people can buy real and healthy food. To continue to map this idea of food, I mapped fast food restaurants. If there are more fast food restaurants than grocery stores, it is more likely that someone will spend less money for more amounts of food at Mcdonalds. This affects the people living in the neighborhood mentally and physically. In order to keep the body and mind functioning properly, you must eat food that nourishes the body instead of destroying it. To juxtapose that idea of having more fast food restaurants than grocery stores, I mapped hospitals in the area. As shown on the map, there are 4 hospitals in Bronzeville. I don’t think a community would need that many if the people were eating well and taking care of their bodies. If there are more fast food restaurants that led to illnesses, there is going to be a higher demand for hospitals in the area. In addition, I mapped liquor stores to again highlight the proportion of things that can negatively affect the community than there are places that could benefit the people. Based on data from CMAP, people living in the Bronzeville have the highest rate of deadly diseases. This could be from the mass amounts of liquor stores and fast food restaurants or lack of grocery stores. This map notes that across from a high school you can find a fast food restaurant, a liquor store and a hospital: a recipe for disaster.


Map 2:


The second map of Bronzeville displays changes in the area based on community demands. I took the assets that were on the first map and changed the property and added something beneficial to the community. To help the entire community, I expanded the TIF through the whole Bronzeville area. This would help redevelopment of the community by getting rid of those vacant spaces and instead of adding residency or businesses that would improve the area. I brought in more residencies(displayed in maroon) to make the neighborhood have a better sense of community, as well as bring in more families into Bronzeville. According to CMAP, Bronzeville has a plan to develop the area into a mixed-use area that provides commercial and residential spaces. 53% of the current land is residency, while the next highest percentage is 14% being vacant land.  Businesses displayed on the map as the color orange is included to bring in more jobs for the community, as well bring in black-owned business to restore the African-American culture Bronzeville is slowly losing. I decided to keep the high schools where they are now, putting another one in the neighborhood would be pointless. Merging the schools could lead to more issues in the neighborhood, so therefore I kept the schools the same as they were before. Taking what my mother said about the area not having enough grocery stores, I decided to add 3 more grocery stores. If it were up to me to decide which grocery stores, I would bring in a Trader Joe's, a Whole Foods Market and a Stanley’s. These stores would allow people around the neighborhood to purchase fresh fruits, vegetables and overall better food options than what’s currently there. I didn’t change the hospitals since it is convenient for people to not have to travel a long way in case of emergencies. One of the biggest differences of this map is the liquor stores, I took away 3 and left 1 for the neighborhood. According to Dr. Marie Crandall from Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, who found out from a study that neighborhoods with a higher number of liquor stores risk more violence in the area. By taking away most of the liquors stores, I could potentially lower death rates; by keeping one, people still have the option to go the liquor store. Another major change in this map compared to the first are the fast food restaurants. I removed the 5 of the fast food restaurants from the area and kept 2. Since I put more grocery stores in the area that would allow people to go there meaning that there shouldn’t be a high demand for fast food. Although I removed 7 of the fast food chains, there are 2 places to eat fast food in case there are people who cannot afford to go to grocery stores. It’s important that those people eat something even if it’s unhealthy, it's in the vicinity of the high schools displayed on the map. This second map that displays community demands is one that will ensure a healthier and more efficient community.



Map 3:


The last map is a transformational map of Bronzeville. When creating this map I wanted to change Bronzeville in the most beneficial way for the people living there and for the people who travel through. In order to do so, I looked at the first two maps, took what is already there and what the community demands were to create my final transformational map. First, I kept the transportation train lines the same as before. There are already 2 lines in Bronzeville that allow you to travel north and south in the city; buses are also accessible in the area, yet not as efficient as trains are. I decided to add a park underneath the green line station near 45th St where there was once vacant land. This park will bring revenue to the neighborhood while also bringing in more families with children that can play in the park. I decided to keep businesses condensed in the same area to get a mixed-use area with residency near. As stated in the second map, businesses will bring in jobs for people and create a better economy for the area. I didn’t change much involving the high schools, but instead, I changed what is around the schools. Although the high schools’ performance levels are poor, there isn’t anything I can do inside the school to help; I can help by providing better food options to help stimulate their brains. I dispersed the grocery stores around Bronzeville hoping to make them closer to each school. By making food accessible to students I can indirectly help them do better in school. There are still 4 hospitals in the area that are accessible to anyone in the area and in Chicago. As people start to eat less fast food there won’t be as much as a need for many hospitals in one area. One of the big transformations of this last map is the fact that there are no liquor stores in the Bronzeville neighborhood. This will change the community in a positive way. I took away the liquor store because more families are coming in. If there are liquor stores every street, it creates a violent environment to live in. I called my local community organization and asked what the biggest issue is in Bronzeville. One of the organizers said that the violence and shootings that happen almost every week are dangerous for everyone. The most important thing was the fact that there aren’t liquor store near any schools where they can be put in danger. Lastly, there are 3 fast food restaurants dispersed around the area. At first, I wasn’t going to put any on this transformational map, but after thinking about how some people rely on fast food to keep food in their system. This map isn’t interested in one party, but all different types of people that are living in different situations. The goal of this map is to show a transformation of Bronzeville by looking at its current situation and changing it for the better.

Works Cited:

1. “Affordable Rental Housing Developments | City of Chicago | Data Portal.” Chicago Data Portal, data.cityofchicago.org/Community-Economic-Development/Affordable-Rental-Housing-Developments/dkgm-i9fi.

2. “Bronzeville Neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois (IL), 60653 Detailed Profile.” Bronzeville
Neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois (IL), 60653 Subdivision Profile - Real Estate, Apartments, Condos, Homes, Community, Population, Jobs, Income, Streets,
www.citydata.com/neighborhood/Bronzeville-Chicago-IL.html.

3. Chicago Health Atlas, www.chicagohealthatlas.org/indicators/life-expectancy
Demography, www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/962.html.

4. “History and Demographics.” Bronzeville, bronzevilleviolence.weebly.com/history-and-demographics.html.

5. “Public Health Statistics- Selected Underlying Causes of Death in Chicago, 2006 – 2010 | City of Chicago | Data Portal.” Chicago Data Portal, data.cityofchicago.org/Health-Human-Services/Public-Health-Statistics-Selected-underlying-cause/j6cj-r444.

6. Senior, and Niche User. “Explore Phillips Academy High School.” Niche, 26 May 2017, www.niche.com/k12/phillips-academy-high-school-chicago-il/.

7. “Study Links Liquor Stores and Bars to Shooting Risk.” Tribunedigital-Chicagotribune, 19 Sept. 2013, articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-09-19/news/chi-study-links-liquor-stores-and-bars-to-shooting-risk-20130918_1_liquor-store-gun-violence-crandall.