Blues And The Machine

Positive Achievement

New business has also been developed through the city's auspicious in both the African marketplace and the Harold Washington Cultural Center. An art gallery, bar and grill, coffee shop, and bookstore all have helped increase foot traffic and retail in the area. (Armour, 2005)

47^th St., the social and commercial hub of the Black Metropolis at its height, has started to show signs of a resurgence. Businesses now line the street from Michigan Ave. to Cottage Grove Ave., and with more planned, the future of commerce along the strip will surely bring in more commercial activity. The intersection has been altered with new landscaping, statues, improved roads, replaced streetlights, fresh sidewalks, and other minor structural improvements. A few blocks away near the recently overhauled CTA station, established businesses continue to serve the local clientele as new street signs announce that they now live in the Blues District. Physical appearance has been altered by new retail and political projects, but housing is changing too. The Grand Boulevard area has become an area of rising rents and escalating housing costs. A more detailed look at the change in housing is forthcoming.

Critics also have questioned whether there is some economic or political motivation that caused Tillman and the city to shift the Mid-South’s recommendation for the Blues District four blocks south. Alderman Tillman’s influence in the development of the Blues District has been glaring. Tillman was the founder of Tobacco Road Inc., a non-profit company that joined with the city in developing the $19.5 million project of the Harold Washington Cultural Center, which was funded by private and public sources in a TIF (tax increment financing) District. Through this company other buildings have been erected at the intersection. The interconnections of local politicians, the city, and family business appear to be weaving a web of kickbacks and handouts.

Tillman’s and the city's decision to move the Blues District to 47^th St. is not without credibility though. While the Mid-South’s Plan called for the work to be done on 43^rd St. in conjunction with an African Marketplace, there are many benefits to having the cultural development zone in its present location. The Mid-South recommended major commercial growth at the intersection of 47^th St. and Cottage Grove because it had potential to draw shoppers from the middle class neighborhoods of Kenwood and Hyde Park. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 123)

The plan to move the Blues District south to 47^th St. by the city and Alderman Tillman was meet with much controversy, much of it focusing on the fact that that plan they ordered did not recommend the tourist zone there and in fact did not mark 47^th St. and Martin Luther King Dr. as a key intersection for commercial growth. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993 47) Much speculation by community leaders and urban planners has focused on the rejection of this part of the plan. The 43^rd St. corridor had already begun the initial processes of transforming itself into the Blues District recommended by the Mid-South plan. In 1985, before the Mid-South’s recommendations came out, a stretch of the street was renamed Muddy Waters Drive in honor of the man that help create Chicago blues. Many longtime residents and local leaders point out that 43^rd St. was known as the hub of the blues clubs in Chicago. His one time home was near the proposed corner of the new development. Along the street numerous authentic Blues clubs still stood, a couple open for business. Peppers Lounge and the Checkerboard Lounge were two famous spots open until recently. But with Tillman’s move to make 47^th Street the official nexus of the Blues District, the 43^rd St. corridor has remained largely idle. Bernard Turner in his book called for a African-American Thematic District at 35^th St. and State St. (Turner 2002, 29-31, 51) The area along 43^rd St. was primed for tourist development. 2 Yet the city and Tillman used typical Postmodern planning to justify their ideas for a Blues District, covering their intentions in language of empowerment and political speak.

The corner of 47^th Street and Martin Luther King Blvd. has underwent major change in the past 10 years. A place where many locals once claimed “if you stood at the corner of 47^th and South Parkway for a single hour, you were bound to see about everyone you wanted to see,” had become an area where no one was seen and few people wanted to be seen. (Travis, 1991, 45) But new initiatives for economic growth put in place by the city and Alderman Tillman, with help from Federal Redevelopment Grants, have changed the face of this particular intersection more than any across the landscape of the once thriving Black Metropolis. Starting in 1998 signs were installed on streets posts marking the areas as the “Blues District”. A year later the city notified many of the business in area they would be purchased by the city under eminent domain. Various buildings and businesses have been bought and other continue to wait for their fate. At that time the city owned nearly 800 pieces of land in the Grand Boulevard and Douglas communities. Much of this land is on hold for development. With over 20 percent of city owned delinquent property in this area redevelopment would greatly benefit their financial purses. (Quintanilla 1994) Tillman claimed she was protecting the community against large real estate land grabs in light of the Mid-South’s recommendations and has since eased the holds on some of the land. Yet some opponents question the motives of Tillman and the city in keeping this land locked from purchase.

Blueprint Ignored

The Mid-South’s plan has been the groundwork for the design, redevelopment and improvements in the Bronzeville community for the last 10 years. As we will see, while this plan offers a detailed blueprint for the successful revitalization of the former Black Metropolis, the city, who commissioned it, has not followed many of its major recommendations.

Goals 5 through 8 focus on quality of life concerns like health, transportation, education, and recreation. Recommendations that coincide with development in relation to the Blues District or Grand Boulevard include creating a Southside Transit Center to connect all regional and local transit transfers, provide traffic congestion relief on 47^th St., King Dr. and Cottage Grove Ave., provide off street parking along 47^th St. to achieve this traffic congestion reduction, and design major gateways to highlight important intersections, (47^th St. and Cottage Grove Ave.) (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 106, 115, 116)

Within these goals the Mid-South Plan makes no recommendations for crime reduction, single mother education or computer training all important issues connected to the economic problems in the area.

Goal Four involves residential concerns. The Plan realizes the area’s potential as a major area for housing growth because of multiple positive factors. Focusing on new construction for all income levels that are compatible with local design, can be shifted to adapted to the future population needs of the community, and offering housing fairs and educational homebuyer programs will work toward the success of this goal. This coordinates with an earlier suggestion that the area should be mixed residential and that redevelopment should not mean displacement of current residents but a way to build opportunities for them. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 3) Housing choice should be maximized with home ownership emphasized. The plan notes a long-term demand for affordable housing ownership has went unmet, and could be solved with proper development and encouragement in the area. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 121)

Once again historic and architecturally important structures should be saved. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 104) The city should work with the Chicago Landmarks Commission to execute and reward preservation in residential structures. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 104) The Mid-South planners also suggested an upgrade in CHA housing developments. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 104 ) The Plan calls for the zoning changes to promote community living concentrating on rezoning for single family homes, and promote off street parking in new commercial developments.

Finally this goal can be achieved by further focusing on a portion of goal two - the restoration of historic properties in Bronzeville for tourism and local activity. In order to accomplish this segment of the goal the creation of Community Development Corporations must be created to help analyze and determine the feasibility of rehabilitating these historic properties. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 101) Commercial opportunities must be linked to tourism in association with these culturally valuable structures. Further the city must encourage and initiate preservation and design new structures to compliment those of historical significance. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 102)

The commission recommends the city use buildings on 35^th St as a campus for tourists and residents as well as converting the major north-south corridors to their former boulevard design.

The third goal calls for economic development focusing on the chance for garnering self-sufficiency within the community. To do this the city must help maintain a favorable business climate in Bronzeville. To achieve this goal retail services must be integrated with other commercial and industrial activity, new manufacturing compatible with the design of the area must be created, and the opportunity for small business ownership must be enhanced. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 100) To accomplish this the city must work with the local chamber of commerce, establish guidelines for commercial strips and community retail centers, and provide adequate office space for business in the community. The Mid-South’s plan calls for the creation of job growth, youth employment, and the promotion of business skills in order to offer opportunities for economic sustainability for local residents.

The second goal concerns urban design in which the Mid-South believes the city should focus on the characteristic development of the community giving the neighborhoods an image and a feeling of intention. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 99) The plan feels the best means to do this is through creating open space with community in mind, reconfigure existing streets patterns if necessary, understand that buildings and open space together can create images of expression, both cultural and natural. The Mid-South suggests the city preserve notable landmarks of historical or architectural value to provide continuity to Bronzeville’s past. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 99) The commission recommends the city use buildings on 35th St as a campus for tourists and residents as well as converting the major north-south corridors to their former boulevard design.

The third goal calls for economic development focusing on the chance for garnering self-sufficiency within the community. To do this the city must help maintain a favorable business climate in Bronzeville. To achieve this goal retail services must be integrated with other commercial and industrial activity, new manufacturing compatible with the design of the area must be created, and the opportunity for small business ownership must be enhanced. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 100)

The first goal involves key issues to the success of the plan. It also has become one of the areas sparking controversy as the Blues District development matures. The Mid-South’s first goals calls for Public-Private Cooperation in which the groundwork for future planning and development activities will be maintained through open communication, and a clear understanding of responsibilities. The Mid-South sees their plan as a framework for the city’s planning review, and a vehicle for implementation for projects and programs in the community. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 96) They recommend that city must use all agencies to help initialize and execute the redevelopment plan. All agencies must review the plan, and use it as a guide when making decisions on improvements and investment in the area. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 97)

The plan should be examined as budgets are made and future decisions for the community are made. The Mid-South Plan states that city-owned land should be used to stimulate development and prompt economic growth in the area. The plan recommends that delinquent tax properties held by the city should be made available at little or no cost. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 97) This, they claim, will fuel growth and put properties back in the tax rolls. The plan suggests the city package lots in their possession and make them available to developers, especially for residential growth. The plan also asks the city to waive fees for that may impede residential growth such as hookups and permits. Zoning should be rethought if it will facilitate housing growth. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 97)

Rebuilding the Whole

The Mid-South Commission dedicates a major portion of their plan in offering guidelines to implement the plan for revitalizing Bronzeville. Expanding on their suggestions and vision for the project as a whole, their achievement plan offers specific details that the city and community should focus on to make the area’s revitalization a reality.

Eight goals are offered and followed by recommendations and additional short-term plans to help the Black Metropolis achieve the goal of energizing sections of the area. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 96)

The Planning Group forewords these goals with some general suggestions as to how the plan can be implemented to the best possible means. These general suggestions create the outline for the goals and policies laid out by the Mid-South’s Plan. The commission suggests the necessity of capital improvements in the area, and the coordination of community programs administered by the city with the improvements. The plan calls for local residents to assist in creating a "climate conducive to attracting private investment and stimulating the growth envisioned in the plan." (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 96)

The plan suggest thirty years for the overall completion of the work and indicates that image of the area must be shifted so outsiders perceive it as safe and dynamic. The Mid-South plan specify that both short and long term goals are part of their outline for redevelopment of the Bronzeville area. The commission further specifies that "the development of specific implementation strategies will be part of the ongoing effort to implement the Mid-South Plan." (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 96) Eight specific goals are presented with each goal followed by recommendations and policies in order to guide the usage, and execution of the plan.

Quadrant Nine (43rd to 47th, King Dr. to Cottage Grove) would serve as the other half to redevelop the area historically known for blues in city. The proposal called for the majority of growth to occur around the intersection of King Dr. and 43rd St. A cul-de-sac on Vernon Ave. would serve as additional space for development. On this side street record shops, artist space, and music stores were envisioned to compliment tourist activities. Vernon Ave. development would have served as the nexus of the Blues District. Artistic renderings and a street level diagram suggest the street be pedestrian friendly, well landscaped, offer plenty of lot parking, and encourage walking traffic flow between the commercial strip and the local neighborhood. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 82) The plan called for the redevelopment of the Lawless Professional Building at the southeast corner of the intersection to serve as an office complex to serve the Blues District and surrounding area. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 82-83)

Quadrant Nine’s plan also mentions the potential for light commercial growth along 47th St., but notes that further study is needed. The main recommendation for 47th St. involves the commercial node near 47th St. and Cottage Grove Ave. The Mid-South’s Plan suggests areas be developed in parking, commercial zoning remain along Cottage Grove Ave. to facilitate new growth and public plazas be designed near the intersection of Cottage Grove and 47th St. No references are made for tourist or cultural based development in this specific area. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 82-83)

Quadrant Five (43rd to 47th, State St. To King Dr.), furthers the plan for 43rd St. to be an entry point to the Blues District and for 47th St. to be a neighborhood shopping strip. Small areas of off street parking are suggested for each street to improve traffic flow and encourage shopping. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 64-65)

Quadrant Six (47th to 51st, State St. to King Dr.) adds minor elements to the idea that 47th St. be a local retail destination. The plan suggests that the development along 47th St. be "neighborhood retail nodes." (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 66)

The Mid-South Plan’s Quadrant 10 (47th to 51st, King Dr. to Cottage Grove Ave.) makes no specific recommendations concerning 47th St.

More Focused Areas

To better grasp the Mid-South recommendations and vision for the Bronzeville community, and its implications toward building a culturally-based development project like the Blues District, a look at the proposals for each quadrant are important to understanding the plan. It is also necessary to look at these suggested guidelines in order to analyze the city's (who ordered the plan) decision to disregard major portions of the design for this project, deciding to move the Blues District from 43rd St. to 47th St. Each quadrant examined below represents the sector in which the Mid-South Commission suggested the Blues District be placed or in which the current Blues District exists.

Quadrant Four (39th to 43rd, State St. to King Dr.) was seen as an important section of Bronzeville, as it related to the Mid-South’s Blues District proposal, because it would serve as the western entry point to the tourist area. Parks and commercial conservation along 43rd. St. would serve as a compliment to the Blues District’s activities near 43rd St. and King Dr. At the intersection itself, the center of the Blues District, new merchants would intermingle with commercial preservation. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 79)

Commercially the plan called for increased retail centers focused near the intersections of 35th St. and Martin Luther King Dr., and at the corner of Cottage Grove Avenue and 47th St. The plan called for commercial development to be strengthened in areas that already had significant retail establishments. The plan recommended the hotel/convention complex, a Blues District, (43rd St. and Martin Luther King Dr.) and a Africa in Chicago Market Place (along Cottage Grove Ave. near Pershing Rd.) to be built in coordination with one of these existing areas. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 52)

One of the plans suggestions, which is currently nearing completion, was for a new convention center and hotel to be constructed just to the west of the current McCormick Center. The Mid-South Commission understood the benefit these jobs and tourists would bring to the area. Further, the hope is that these tourists will travel to other areas in Bronzeville, most likely the Blues District, and spend time and money that will help revitalize the community. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 56)

The plan also recommends large amounts of vacant land be turned over to the city parks department and eventually converted into playgrounds and common areas for local residents to enjoy.

Residential factors were as listed as an important aspect spurring growth in the former Black Belt. The commission called for the creation of individual neighborhood units for every half mile square of land. (equal to their aforementioned quadrant divisions) Each neighborhood should focus individually but also within the whole on mixing housing types, maintaining and establishing new recreation facilities, and reforming street patterns. In the quadrants where large commercial projects are recommended, each neighborhood must integrate that fabric into the community without compromising the residential makeup. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 4) Single family housing was the main recommendation of the plan, although some 10-20 unit apartment structures should be constructed or upgraded. Rehabilitation was listed a important to preserving the area’s strong cultural and historical background. The plan called for a reduction in density of public housing, currently being met under the CHA’s transformation plan.

The Mid-South plan also felt it important to realign some street circulation to encourage a more community feel therefore helping promote neighborhood growth. Streets like Indiana Ave. and Michigan Ave. should be altered back to two-way traffic to promote community designed transportation, and Cottage Grove and State St. each should be redesigned to the Chicago boulevard style. Important to this study the plan also called for the rezoning of 47th St. to discourage curbside parking since the current right-of-way prohibits widening the street. Vacant lots in the area can be converted to parking and alleys and side streets should allow access to the present commercial strip. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 43)

The plan recommended an increase in park space and recreational facilities. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 4) Historic preservation was another redevelopment feature to help the area grow and prosper. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 29) The plan notes the numerous buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, and the numerous possibilities for renovation in the depressed housing supply. The plan notes the interconnection of various factors such as health care, need for public housing, employment, education, and public safety as other factors influencing the success of the redevelopment in Bronzeville.

The Mid-South’s Plan felt that the community of Bronzeville could grow based on a series of strengths imbedded in the localities fabric.

Cultural and historical identity was a major component to assisting the areas redevelopment. The commission also listed proximity to the city's amenities and business center, and linkages to development in surrounding communities as positives to help the area grow.

New residents will obviously mean more retail needs. The Planning Group noted that the growth in retail will result from the addition of higher income residents than the community has now. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 26) The Mid-South plan sees tourism as a key component in boosting the economy of the area. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 4) The Mid-South Commissions plan called for the development of tourist oriented business hub near the intersection of 43rd St. and Martin Luther King Dr. They pictured this area drawing tourists from the city and region, focusing an entertainment zone on the Blues clubs that existed (or once existed in the area) The plan also called for the design and construction of a multi-use 15,000-20,000 seat facility to capture convention overflow, and provide a nexus for attracting visitors to the area. In conjunction with this facility they recommended one or more hotels near the intersection. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 27)

The Mid-South Group also envisioned increased light industrial growth in the area due in part to location, and a willing job pool. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 26-27) They hoped this would create diverse types of employment for community residents.

The Commission sees two major ways toward increasing the local population.  The first is to attract more middle class homeowners to purchase property in the area, and the other assumes that redevelopment in the community will encourage current residents to remain in the area.

In order to meet this influx of these new residential needs, the plan calls for increased home ownership, mainly by converting apartments into condominiums, providing mix income housing options, preserving and rehabilitating existing housing stock, and developing the area into numerous residential neighborhoods with broad appeal. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 26)

A Larger Community

Before undertaking a more comprehensive look at the plan for each individual zone, the Mid-South’s analysis and suggestions for the whole of Bronzeville are important to focus on.  They not only provides background for understanding each specific quadrant, but also puts focus on the area as a community showing it greater than any separate section. ¹

As the Mid-South Commission’s plan claims, the area involved in the plan is large enough to include several markets.  As stated previously, the Blues District analysis requires a look at two areas in the historic boundaries of Bronzeville, the 43^rd St. and 47^th. St. corridors. 

            The Mid-South Plan states the area can hold 100,000 people, close to doubling the population. They noted that initially new owners and renters will come into the area.  One goal of the project was to help increase home ownership and preserve the existing housing stock.  (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 3)

In detailing the guidelines for the proposal the planning group divided up the area into a series of half-mile quadrants. Each quadrant is given an overview, brief history, current conditions, and then land use recommendations. The 13 quadrants fit into a “super grid” in which a larger land use plan is constructed. Quadrants 5 and 9 compose the current area that the Blues District resides in.  Quadrants 2, 3 and 4 make up the spot that the Mid-South Plan proposed for a cultural based tourist area. In these three areas the group designates as the main hub for restoration of the Black Metropolis, and the prime area for a Blues District. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 27) These five quadrants will be the main focus of analysis for this work.

The Mid-South’s Plan studied the history, physical characteristics, cultural identity, and socio-economic issues of the area while building toward an assessment and recommendation for the revitalization of Bronzeville.  In their mission they described the goal of the proposal as a way to “formulate an improvement plan to enhance the quality of life and maintain the cultural heritage of the indigenous people who live and work in the Mid-South planning area.” (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 1) The organizers of the report listed coordination with residents, business, churches, community institutions, and government agencies as key components to their holistic approach to achieving the plan in Bronzeville.  They state the overriding goals of the project as a means to improve the quality of life for residents of the Mid-South area, and to develop a clear-cut guideline for future development from a community perspective. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 1-7)   The plan stressed the focus of local input on their study as well as the future of development in the area.  The Mid-South Commission also mention the plan’s intention to “preserve and build upon the Mid-South’s rich historic characteristics as a way to enhance the area’s physical environment.”  (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 4)  The plan focused on both short and long term objectives.   

The Background

The first official geneses of the Blues District idea came in 1992 from a work by Michael Smith’s article called Africa In Chicago: A Culture, Trade and Tourism Concept. While future works reference this document as a portion of their reviews of Bronzeville, an exhaustive search of both local libraries, and the Internet turned up no further information of Smith’s plan.

One of the most detailed plans involving the redevelopment project of the Blues District was a strategic development plan prepared by the Mid-South Planning Group called the Mid-South Strategic Development Plan: Restoring Bronzeville. The planning group defines the Mid-South region as Cermack (north) to 51st Street (south) and from the Dan Ryan Expressway (west) to Cottage Grove Ave. (east) The plan, which was created in the fall of 1993, took a comprehensive look at the historical area of Bronzeville, and examined the most effective ways to improve the community. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 1-5) The funding for the Mid-South’s plan came from the city through a grant from the McCormick Foundation in order to prepare a community development document for the area around the Illinois Institute of Technology campus. The Mid-South Planning Group has been housed at IIT, and is composed of many local community leaders, residents and agencies representatives. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 15) The planning group used local meetings and workshops to research the needs and issues of the community. The Mid-South Group hired Wendell Campbell Associates and Applied Real Estate Analysis to prepare the plan. (Mid-South Planning Commission 1993, 14)

IV.

ANALYZING THE PLAN

Any examination of Blues District plan must take place (to some degree) within the context of current social theory, which, although limiting, is presently the dominate line of thinking. We have shown that the Blues District as a project is much greater than the neighborhood of Grand Boulevard or the city, state, and possibly even the Federal government. It had also been concluded that socio-economic forces (generally dictated by the global market and decisions made in conjunction with and for it) exercise great control over the individual. These larger factors, whether local or alien, are key components to the Blues District’s success or failure. Treating the Blues District plan as a prospective saving grace for a community and region of the city is inappropriate. No one project or group of projects can uplift a community that has been so historically oppressed and overlooked. If the Blues District is to succeed in a mutually beneficial manner toward all parties, it will be because the greater factors of economic importance like unemployment, poor education and de facto segregation are corrected. If these factors are overlooked as in the past, the Blues District at best can be an oasis of protected middle class living and consumption and at its worst, leave the area as is despite all the monies poured into the community to support the goals of the project.

Notes from the Postmodern Trappings section

1 (Bridge and Watson 2000, 138) Merrifield’s claim is accurate within the Postmodern canon, but not wholly accurate in this analysis of Postmodern social theory.

2 (Low 1999, 7, 322)

3 Many scholars have touched on the subject. It has been gaining popularity since the middle 1990s.

4 (Lozano 1990, 288) Lozano notes that, "physical space becomes social spaces and ultimately acquires symbolic value."

We have seen that defining the benefit and the limitations are not easily understood or clear. One of the principal tenants in Postmodernism is vagueness, and this contributes to both understanding and addressing its deficiencies. The duality of success and failure can not be the only focus. The greater forces at work in the area must be addressed as well. To continue to use the Postmodern line of thinking in planning for the area’s future would be an unwise decision. City officials and developers must move forward and begin to understand that not only our new stages occurring in technology, world markets and human awareness, but also the dominant social theory is outdated and flawed. They must understand that to move forward, new methods of thinking and design have to be employed.

In the following section the Blues District project’s specifics will be examined in more detail in order to understand potential advantages and disadvantages, along with the capability for success. Can the cities plan work under the guise of Postmodern development? Will the tangled web of politics, economics and cultural capital strangle the hopes for success in the Blues District? And what changes and adaptations can be made to the plan to improve it?

The factors of change, a site of everyday practice and the texture of human experience with linkages to macro-processes, are very evident in the area surrounding the Blues District. Each of the above plays a significant role in how the area is being viewed and transformed by all actors involved. The makeup, in many structures in the area is being transformed. Yet as eluded to, acceptable models beyond Postmoderism have meet with skepticism and intellectual hegemony. For the current system and lines of social thought to be altered to improve society, those scholars working outside the limits of Postmodernism must offer strong alternatives to boost new theoretical models.

Society can be changed, but typically over long periods of time. Society is both an ever-present state and the continually reproduced fluidity of human action. The above analysis has shown that Postmodernist thinking lacks the insight into the controls of current conditions, and human activity could easily stagnated the chance for positive change in areas like Bronzeville. Postmodern conviction has contributed to a cycle of transformation in redeveloping the neighborhood through big business and government relations by using a destination-specific (culturally consumable) location to change the demographics and physical structure of the area. The argument has been confronted throughout this analysis - do the advantages of this redevelopment outweigh the disadvantages? Can Postmodern planning be overcome?

Can the Blues District Succeed?

Looking at the work of reviving the Bronzeville neighborhood is not only a study of a city trying to revive economically, exercise socio-political control or possibly increase governmental accounts, but it is a examination of the how the economies at all levels have and continue to effect and control urban areas like the Grand Boulevard community. Further it investigates the way in which the capitalist economy, and its main architects and fugitives are able to use a vast array of methods and sociopolitical opportunities to continue their dominance in hoarding more capital.

In order to properly analyze the potential for change, both positive and negative, that the Blues District will have on the Bronzeville community, factors within and beyond the project must be understood. Therefore, as Low states,

theorizing the city is a necessary part of understanding the changing postindustrial/advanced, capitalist/Postmodern (and beyond) world in which we live. The city as a site of everyday practice provides insights into the linkages of these macro processes with the texture and fabric of human experience. These linkages often are more intense in cities. Thus, the "city" is the focus of a study of cultural and sociopolitical manifestations of urban lives and everyday practices. (Low 1999, 2)

This is where Postmodernism fails.

Cognitive mapping is, therefore, a necessary ideological principle which society must utilize in order to figure its way out of Capitalism's hold. It is the possible attempt by each person to understand him/herself in relation to the smothering effect that multinational Capitalism has on the subject. Today Multinational Capitalism creates such a complex web of telecommunications, telemarketing and mobile services that the subject becomes mesmerized within the network of the image. The cultural logic of Late Capitalism is Postmodernism, and it is Jameson's political project to pull us out of this despair, to show us how we may cognitively map our way out of this debilitating logic. "Cognitive mapping, is the invention of ways of using one object and one reality to get a mental grasp of something else which one cannot represent or imagine," explains Jameson. (Jameson 1991, 3, 5-11) This cognitive mapping is closely associated with Jameson thoughts of Late Marxism, an economic/philosophical theory that attempts to update Marxism as a response to Late Capitalism and address the failures of the Communist model of the Twentieth century.

Critical Realism in turn focuses on the human condition as it relates to reality. This theoretical position claims that there is a knowable reality that exists independent of our mind cognition and perception. A very dense philosophy, Critical Realism has slowly gained popularity in America as an alternative to Postmodernism. Championed by the likes of Sellars, Santanyana and Bhaskar, this theory, like Modernsim and Postmodernism before it, can be vague in definition and divide itself into countless subdivisions.

Critical Realism’s main attack toward Postmodernism involves the belief that our reality is a greater subject matter than individualistic thoughts or needs, and this greater reality must be the focus of analyzing the human condition. This greater reality is seen as the driving force behind all thought and actions. (Bhaskar 1989, 2-5)

Valid Alternatives

As indicated throughout this sections assessment regarding the shortcomings of Postmodernisitc thinking, the theoretical principles guiding Postmodernism are not all without value. The main principles worth maintaining from the Postmodern classification should be is that the individual can find space for expression and empowerment in society. Symbols and narratives can be slightly altered to recreate the self within the bounds of the dominant discourse.

Finding alternatives to Postmodern thinking is important when offering a critique of the social theory. Yet most criticisms or attempts at progression, save modernity from which Postmodernism was created, are either underdeveloped or still materializing. Two of the major theories, both in their relative infancy, that could facilitate the challenge to the hegemonic constraints of Postmodernism and also form into strong social theories in their own right are Late Marxism and Critical Realism.

Jameson argues that we are caught in a time of spatial and social confusion. We find ourselves within a system so large that our only way to re-orient ourselves, to find our social positioning and class relations, is to fall back upon a method of mapping ourselves spatially. In the Blues District we see not only the potential with spatial social confusion as the area in redesigned and resettled under the auspicious of the city, but also a confusion of socio-economic relations as the area is forcibly alerted for consumption and profit. For Jameson, Postmodern thinking was the cultural reasoning of late Capitalism, and his attempts at critiquing Postmodernism is in direct opposition to Baudrillard‘s world of the hyper-real.

Postmodernism’s obsession with image, the individual and micro-processes become so muddled that understanding becomes nearly impossible. Images become false, individuals become dislocated, and micro-processes cease to meaningfully exist.

Development in the Blues District needs "to make a place that helps people know where they are and by extension who they are." (Thomas and Lee 2000, 239) This creation is even more critical within disenfranchised communities like that of Bronzeville. Those who are economically disadvantaged can be easier displaced physically and socially. It is important that the city plans take into account these factors as the neighborhood undergoes changes due to the project.

Another factor to understand is that cultural policy (or culture based tourism) can not be treated satisfactorily is isolation from the wider economic and political determinations operating upon culture and society in a time of epochal change. (Ellin 1999, 192) Postmodern’s individualistic thinking, once more, must be disregarded and the forces of the larger forces in society (economics and politics) must be assessed heavily into the planning of tourism projects. 

A Long Pause

Why has it been over 2 months since Blues and the Machine was updated?  There is one very complex answer and one simple one.  And the complex one leads into the simple one.

Our plan for this blog was to publish our thesis and as it was published use that time to properly end the work in a less academic fashion as well as feature updates, further explanations on the current politics of the project (since we thought our thesis lacked that) and add any additional information to make the work better. As we had throughout the thesis writing process, we continued to try and contact community leaders, politicians and local figures to get their input and analysis of the project.  Both unfortunate and perplexing, dozens of emails and calls were never returned (even with followups) or were met with half-hearted enthusiasm. Those few who did take the time to respond to my questions, seemed to have used verbatim, politically safe and vague answers. This is no different from what we experienced during the course of our thesis. Even local academics with long histories of work and service in the area, were reluctant to go too far below the surface on the subjects. After months of futile efforts and unresponsive replies, we felt forced to reassess how we'd complete Blues and the Machine into our goal of a book format. As we began the reevaluation process we kind of let our posting wane.  Today we are still kicking around a few ideas in order to make this project a reality.

Please keep checking back, we plan to slowly post as we wrap this work up and get Blues and the Machine into a completed package.

Social control is then more easily applied and maintained both as a physical aspects, and an emotional one based on the shared history of the group. If African-American history is package for sale in the form of the blues in the economically depressed, fully black neighborhood of Grand Boulevard, it is not being designed (or redesigned) for the locals. It is being developed for those who can afford and desire to visit the area to experience, examine or consume that culture. Locals, most of whom are struggling to survive daily, are not the target audience. The desired visitor to the Blues District are the more financially secure citizens who view the area as a place of temporary enjoyment or brief educational experience. What effect this has on the local community can only be examined with more time. Locals become both outsiders in their own community (as foreign visitors come in) and objects of display. (as visitors come to undertake the culture of the Blues District)

"In a true sense of history Postmodernism abandons all sense of historical continuity and memory, while simultaneously developing an incredible ability to plunder history and absorb whatever it finds there is some aspect of in the present." (Davis 1990, 257) Cultural tourism focuses on this creation of acceptable history for all in order to encourage tourists to visit and shop.

As Ellin states "the invention or reinvention of histories, production of hyper or unreal environments, usually end up accentuating rather than checking excess." (Ellin 1999, 183) These images that Postmodern planners work so hard to construct are in turn claimed to not exist by scholars and politicians. Image is an illusion is the argument, while places of illusion are designed for cultural consumption within the city. The illusion is perpetuated from both sides, and confuses the reality of the cultural theme parks in our cities.

As examined earlier the creation of the Blues District creates a false environment. It is an environment commodified and created for tourism and consumption. The development of the area is controlled by the city and takes form through its mechanisms. Using a historical cultural form like the blues is similar to using a neighborhood in many ways, but also has multiple differences. Cultural forms are more fluid than the tangible physical space of a community. Culture is also more historically associated with people than the built form of a neighborhood. These varying factors make culture and the sale of very problematic. Postmodern thinking adds to the problems.

If culture or a cultural form is to be sold, then certain ideas and productions must go into making the product saleable. The cultural object must be packaged in a sense making it easily sold to consumers. For these cultural materials to function as marketable commodities they first have to be processed through a machinery of re-presentation. This is what cultural capital is and does: it is the accumulated knowledge/power that intervenes to organize the commodification of cultural labor through its means of representation. At the same time it transforms the topics of identity work into resources that can be traded or bargained for. (Bridge and Watson 2000, 323) In the Blues District this cultural form is not only the obvious Blues music, but also to some degree the place Bronzeville and African-American history. At the present time the creation of these forms and histories is still in the developing processes, but through the course of development certain concepts can be looked at.

Many scholars also claim that development as growth has little positive economic effect on communities. Gardner states "one of the major drawbacks to defining development as growth is that in reality trickle-down effects rarely take place; growth does not necessarily lead to enhanced standards of living." (Gardner and Lewis 1996, 7)

The multi-dimensional problem appears again.

Economic control is not the only issue facing cultural zone developments. Social dominance is another major concern plaguing the Blues District development. (Boyd, 2000, 107-110) While economic control can manifest easily into social control, cultural consumption projects can involve controlling the culture that is consumable.

Some say that the city is serious about upgrading the community without spawning gentrification, but others disagree. Robert Starks, veteran activist in black politics and professor at Northeastern Illinois views the scheme as "top down planning," with racial overtones. In the redevelopment of Bronzeville he says Daley does not trust African-Americans to make decision in their own community. (Kemp 2001, 256)

Other scholars agree with Starks statement. Kevin Robbins observes that the,

Postmodernist and marketing hype that has characterized much urban regeneration rhetoric and strategy with its emphasis on art, culture, consumption and the cappuccino lifestyle, the fashionable new urbanity seems to be shaped in the image of exactly the same social group that wider political program of Post-Fordism, is only about revitalizing fragments of the city. It is about insulating the consumption of living spaces of the Postmodern flaneur from the have-nots in the abandoned zones of the city. (Robbins, in Bridge and Watosn 2000, 344)

The main point of control extends from the functional use of land. As Lozano points out land use is the most basic variable determining the form of a community. (Lozano 1990, 131) Land is also the central material focus of economic redevelopment projects. As the city determines and plans the usage for areas like the Blues District, concerns of control and usage are bound to arise. The city again can make claims of revitalization and community improvement, letting business be the supposed source for this change.

As Schultz explains it "the more powerful forces of the market are able to exercise socio-political control and influence over the micro-processes and individuals that have and continue to depress these local communities. Clearing slums and repositioning the "ailing" to improved locations was the answer." (Schultz 1992, 79)

Not only do we see the market exercising control with the government aiding, but we also see the use of justification by the city for such development. Focusing on changing the area as a way to improve lives through development seems like a positive force, but it can also be used as a method to shape local opinion and gain community support, in order to accomplish monetary goals that may be in opposition to the communities benefit.

The economic control/growth in the Blues District area in the most overt and straight forward. As examined in the previous section, the project is being presented as a way to uplift the community from the economic doldrums and help restore it to a former glory. But others see the development differently. The project can be interpreted as a way for the city and businesses to shape the community for their goals and for their profits without regard to local culture. Is the intentions of government and business is for the ultimate benefit of the community or self-severing or both?

The Blues District revitalization project is in a community that has been economically depressed for decades now. This makes the space both perfect for economic development, and a location easy to physically and socially control. It is important to remember that areas often slated for, and eventually developed into sites of cultural tourism are areas ravaged by economic oppression and inhabited by impoverished minorities. Because of the low states of economic and cultural capital that can be present in these areas, powerful and wealthy businesses, often along with the assistance of government entities, can easily control the socio-economic aspects and surroundings of these communities.

                                                   Control or Growth?

While the economic benefits of tourist zone development can provide many positives, the main argument against cultural consumption as form of development claims that this form of growth causes socio-cultural change in the existing areas that is unnatural, and detrimental to the native community.

The truth is evident that planning can be a form of socio-economic control. While government officials would deny the fact, even the most bold-faced conservatives can not hide the power-sided leanings of planning. Dominant groups can maintain and widen the gaps through the location of development and benefits. (Allmendinger 2001, 157) In the Blues District development, both forms of control, social and economic, have become points of conflict and concern for community leaders and residents. Each form of control carries with them multiple, and complex negatives, that, as has been mentioned before in analyzing such effects, can appear or be interpreted in many forms. Yet in order to better understand the implications of the Blues District project on the city and the community each must be examined.

Jobs may come to the area in one form or another, but will these jobs be for community residents or outsiders? Can local businesses maintain their footing on 47th street as new business migrates in? Will the wages be sufficient living wages to keep up with the rising rental costs in the area? Will the worry of emerging gentrification ever take place on a widespread scale?

Of course these questions can not be answered without the patience of time. The development in the Blues District project is still growing and evolving at a protracted pace. One can only hope that growth will take place that benefits the community socio-economically and respects the foundation of culture in the area.

For the Blues District to be a successful venture that will provide long-term, local economic stimulus and growth, many factors must be overcome that are common oversights of Postmodern development and planning. If these negatives factors are left in the past and new, more appropriate to the larger economy, planning methods are employed in the Blues District project, success can be accomplished.

As the city invests in the Blues District project and business are encouraged to move to the Bronzeville neighborhood, economic progress is certain to take place.

But the question remains, economic progress for whom? Such improvement (community/local development) can get hijacked as a way of establishing economic hegemony for powerful groups. Specifically it can provide an opportunity for the reentry of local business elites into local governance situations where they have been pushed aside by the ideological politics of the welfare state which set the public interests against the private. (Kemp 2001, 153-155) In the development of the Blues District local interests must be checked to ensure that the community of Bronzeville will benefit from he development in the area.

Cultural based tourism is among the fastest growing in the tourist industry. Historic resources are a major draw and heritage visitors stay longer, visit more places, and spend up to two times more than do other visitors. (Kemp 2001, 182) Cultural tourism that combines museums, cultural events, and festivals attract more visitors per year than all sporting events, movies, and performing arts events combined. (Bridge and Watson 2000, 526-527) As outside visitors are drawn to Chicago for nightlife, shopping and major events like the Blues Festival, the development on 47th Street can become another stop on their itinerary. The multiplier effect, or injection of money into the local economy beyond what would normally be spent, can be used to estimate or figure the rate of economic importance and stimulus to area. In order for this new economic stimulus to benefit the local community in Bronzeville, the new money being spent in the area, must be reinvested in the area. Little positive growth will be seen on the whole if monies spent by tourists in the area, leave the community and help outsiders become wealthier.

Another major difference involves the processes and function of the project itself. In many of these entertainment redevelopments the government has pumped in millions of dollars to encourage the expansion over a short period of time. (Kemp 2001, 155, 172-177) The work of the Blues District, still involving under the guidance and support of the city, has been a project of incremental steps not of immediate completion. Comparing the successes and failures of other cultural consumption zone development projects to that of the Blues District may be inaccurate.

The economic effects on the cities and the redeveloped areas have been positive. Areas like Baltimore’s Harbor District and Toronto’s River Walk have helped increase tourism and bring business back to once depressed economic areas. (Gatton and Taylor 2000) In cities, economic spatial imbalances are inefficient and yet, without specific catalyst for change, severely depressed areas have little to attract new business. (Kemp 2001, 179) Culture is one of the strongest comparative socio-economic advantages cities have in their favor. Developing a cultural tourist destination like the Blues District taps into that strength.

Other Projects

Before moving on to focus on the potential negatives of Postmodern cultural consumption development, similar projects could help lay a foundation for work in the Blues District. The majority of these theme park cultural consumption projects are rather young. Analyzing their economic effects can be assessed, but their socio-political implications are possibly too immature to garner measurable results.

Comparing the development of the Blues District in Chicago to the work of cultural zones of consumption in other cities can be problematic. Cities like Baltimore and Washington D.C. used once thriving areas, now abandoned, as a catalyst to encourage redevelopment in their cities is not unlike the processes of growth in the Blues District, but there are major differences. Many of the improvement projects like Baltimore’s Harbor District are located in the central city areas and are viewed as assisting in revitalizing the core of the city and trickling out to the whole. This is not the case of the Blues District. Partially because of the size of the city and also simply due to the fact the Blues District development lies 4 miles south of the downtown center, the processes of revitalizing the Bronzeville community are less about the city as a whole and more about the community of Bronzeville.

Another requirement for most cultural consumption zones involves some sort of tradition or social history that can be tailored to promote tourism and attendance in the use of the past for present purposes such as profit making and often imperialistic views (Low 1999, 326) In the Blues District this past is that of African-American history and the tradition of the blues. While much more difficult to achieve, this history and tradition can also be shaped by developers and politicians in order to encourage a certain kind of visitor and promote certain activities. (Ellin 1999, 179) As stated earlier in relation to the physical reshaping of communities to promote economic growth, is social readjusting a positive or a negative?

Because of the above concerns many opponents of the theme park or cultural consumption line of development argue the possibility that readapting land to fit the consumption patterns may in fact be the developers deciding how the space should be used, not business meeting the customers desires. This does not seem to be the case. Just as many middle class residents fled the cities in the Fifties and Sixties for, in their minds, the safer suburbs, middle class consumers today still view the city as a unhealthy, scary place, and visitors tend to congregate in the cleanest, most homogenous spots. The metropolis becomes a visual spectacle - people come in from periphery to see and temporarily experience the big city life - but at a safe distance and usually with disdain to the elements they can’t or don’t understand.

In the Bronzeville community, corporate and government planners have noted one major detriment to development in the area is image, yet they also note this image creates opportunity for development because the area is shapeable. Vacant land and abandoned buildings, many now owned by the city due to back taxes, can be either had cheap and used for whatever purpose will fit the area’s redevelopment. (Ellin 1999, 179) Therefore in order to make the area acceptable for tourism and outside consumption the Grand Boulevard neighborhood could be altered to fit the theme park image. This sort of restructuring becomes a focal point of the argument in developing areas like the Blues District. Is changing an area for supposed positive results, really causing more harm than good?

This repositioning of a product or places coincides with Burke’s analysis of selling hygiene products to the developing people of Zimbabwe. (Burke 1996) Individuality in a product is often a powerful selling point for both producers and the advertisers attempting to persuade consumers to purchase the product. This individuality, whether actual or perceived, can contribute to fetishism of the product or the value (use or exchange) associated with the product. As Burke claims, not all products have equal fetish-ization or as he furthers his explanation of commodity fetishism beyond a classic Marxist definition - not all products are equally as powerful in their social meanings. The prior meaning of a commodity or the biography of the product is what gives a good (a product or commodity) strong individuality within a time and setting.

Blues or Bronzeville is a product to be sold and consumed within certain segment of the population. But the product must be perceived as clearly consumable by the buyer. If the consumer sees or perceives any complexity in getting the product desired, they will seek alternate means of securing the product. If Bronzeville is viewed as too dangerous or blues is viewed as insignificant, promoting the area to tourists will become very difficult.

In order to get new money pumping into the city coffers, officials turned to private retail investment. Malls, sports teams, and convention centers promised to bring the coveted middle class consumers to the city streets to spend money. But many city planners weren’t sure that shopping alone would bring in hordes of people to enhance the intake of revenue for the city. They feared the image of the city as dirty and dangerous would keep away shoppers who preferred the safety and ease of monolithic suburban malls. City officials proposed shopping district be designed and constructed, incorporating many of the same features popular at the time in suburban malls such as wide walk ways and a main street feel. Planners also found partnership with developers that envisioned entertainment facilities mixed in with the new retail and office space. As in previous urban redevelopment projects many times economically depressed area were used as places to construct these new "entertainment zones" with little regard to local residents concerns and lives. In order to bring in the middle class and having them feel secure, developers worked at "establishing places that conformed to conventional standards of behavior and appearance." (Freiden and Saglyn 1991, 239) The ways in which these places must look and function had to match mainstream ideals or as Frieden and Saglyn say "middle-class control," had to be brought to the urban areas. (Frieden and Saglyn 1991, 280) Physically changing the landscape while pushing out local, usually poor and ethnic residents, was not the only way control was fostered in these new developments. The type of shops were geared toward the perceived ideal consumers: white, family oriented, and ready to spend. While the shopping areas carried the claim of economic redevelopment, city officials often used the retail ventures for personal gain and prestige, and often the projects were subsidized through tax payer money. (Frieden and Saglyn 1991, 281)