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Title: Race, Ethnicity, and Zoning: The Case of Chicago's First Comprehensive Land Use Ordinance

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2013

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Abstract: In 1923, Chicago adopted one of the nation's first comprehensive zoning ordinances. Intended to stabilize property values and protect public health by regulating land uses and building types, the ordinance made no mention of race or ethnicity. We ask if, despite the race-neutral text, minority communities were differently zoned. Using fine-resolution spatial data on the location of immigrants and African Americans across Chicago juxtaposed with digitized maps of contemporaneous land use and the zoning ordinance itself, we show that neighborhoods with either larger share of southern blacks or first-generation immigrants were more likely to be zoned for manufacturing uses. The results are robust to the inclusion of a rich set of controls for urban geography and pre-existing land uses, suggesting that our findings cannot be explained by the sorting of minorities into areas most suited for industrial activity.

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Authors: Walsh, Randall P.; Shertzer, Allison; Twinam, Tate

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Housing and Segregation

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