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Modern industrial policy and zoning: Chicago, 1910–1930

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2012

ROBERT LEWIS
ROBERT LEWIS*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Toronto, 100 St George St, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada
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Abstract:

Industrial policy has long been considered a federal responsibility. Indeed, most scholars date modern local economic development programmes as starting in the 1960s. Before that, in this view, industrial policy was ad hoc, unco-ordinated and fragmented. In this article, I argue that the origins of modern industrial policy initiated by the local state slowly emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century in Chicago. Using an assortment of sources, I show that a new type of industrial policy was forged in the conflict over the 1923 zoning ordinance. The city's real-estate, financial and political elites were able to mobilize information, science, funding, individuals and arguments to convince industrialists that zoning was to their advantage. In the process, the city's industrial interests were able to frame the new zoning ordinance to their ends.

Type
Eastern European Cities
Information
Urban History , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , February 2013 , pp. 92 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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References

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15 King, ‘Law and land use’, 3–6; Einhorn, Property Rules.

16 For nuisances see Einhorn, Property Rules, 206–12. Garb also talks about the city's inability to regulate the processing and pollution of the meat packers. See City of American Dreams, 60–85.

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30 See Weiss, ‘Density and intervention’.

31 The quotes are from ‘New York system held up as model here’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 24 Oct. 1929, 7; ‘What's matter with Chicago? Aldermen hear’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 26 Oct. 1919, 12; ‘City Local Industries Committee to make tour’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 30 Oct. 1919, 16; ‘The dividends of zoning’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 18 Nov. 1919, 8. Also see ‘Aldermen told how zones make New York happy’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 28 Oct. 1919, 10; Fred Pasley, ‘St. Louis lures rich firms by zoning system, Chicago Daily Tribune, 8 Nov. 1919, 7.

32 Schwieterman and Caspall, The Politics of Place, 17–25; Hornstein and Dupes, ‘Letter dated Sep. 18, 1919’, 15.

33 Schwieterman and Caspall, The Politics of Place, 17–25.

34 The October talks were assembled by Charles Nichols of the Cook County Real Estate Board into Zoning in Chicago. For the quotes see R. Whitten, ‘An address’, 9, and H. Bartholomew, ‘An address’, 7.

35 The proceedings of the December conference were published as the Citizens’ Zone Plan Conference with money from the Union League Club.

36 Thompson, ‘Message’, 9, 10.

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46 All the quotes are from ‘Urges comprehensive zoning’.

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48 Hornstein and Dupes, ‘Letter dated Sep. 18, 1919’, 9.

49 J. Brittain, ‘Response’, in Citizens’ Zone Plan Conference, 28–9.

50 R. Whitten, ‘Problems involved in zoning a large city like Chicago’, in Cook County Real Estate Board, Zoning in Chicago, 8.

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