| Summary: |
The Lake Calumet region on the Southeast side of Chicago has experienced substantive change in its economic and demographic composition over the past few decades. Once the heart of Chicago’s steel industry, it is now in the throes of de-industrialization, leaving older residents scrambling for alternatives, and driving a demographic of new residents focused on the service sector. Simultaneously, the region has been identified as extremely rich in biological diversity with some of the most intact wetland and prairie fragments in the entire Midwest. Our two year research project, which I will discuss examined residents’ shifting construction of identity and relations to place. We especially focused on attitudes and perceptions of the environment with the aim to provide voice for the residents in the fast developing plans for the region’s economic revitalization and environmental restoration. We found that residents’ construction of place vary by length of residence, intersected by class, racial and ethnic identity. We also found striking commonalities across these boundaries and greater awareness and appreciation for the aesthetics of the landscape than is appreciated by “outsiders”. The research findings are synthesized and presented in a web-site, which I will use to illustrate major highlights of the research
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