Environmental Injustices and Green Gentrification in Chicago

By: Julius Seibt
Supervisor: Dr. Gesa Lüdecke

This podcast investigates on-the-ground issues of environmental inustices and green gentrification in Chicago. In the research process, by far the most valuable sources were interviews conducted with researchers and activists living and working in Chicago.

Residential unit with typical mural in the gentrifying neighbourhood of Pilsen in Chicago (Seibt, 2022)

Environmental injustice is the longest-standing issue in Chicago, a city that is racially segregated since decades, with econmic division also growing over the last decades. Those variables are strongly correlated: Neighbourhoods that are predominantly non-white are generally the ones with lower median incomes than white ones. With this racial and economic divide comes environmental injustice, as air-polluting businesses such as coal power plants and scrap metal recycling plants are generally located close to the non-white, economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Meanwhile, an investigation of Chicago’s environmental policies reveals that the city has done little to fight those injustices in the past decades. The city mostly avoids any approach that involves regulations or bans, instead focusing on subsidies that aim to nudge real estate developers to create more energy-efficient buildings. Thus, economic opportunities are created for those who have the means to invest on the big scale, while the issues of those who suffer disproportionally from environmental injustices are not considered.

This market-based approach at environmental policy is linked to another issue explored in the podcast: green gentrification. Gentrification is a process in which a previously working-class neighbourhood experiences an influx of wealthier residents. This leads to rising property values (and thus, property taxes), rents, and a fundamental change in the neighbourhood’s character. Those changes push out previous residents, who either can no longer afford to live in the neighbourhood or feel out of place due to the altered character of the area.
Green gentrification refers to a gentrification process that is kicked off or reinforced by greening efforts or environmental policies. An example is the Bloomingdale Trail or 606, a previously disused railline that was turned into an elevated park by the city of Chicago in 2015. This led to sharply increasing property values in the neighbourhoods close to the park, which in turn led to the displacement of many working-class households from the area.

While the city keeps on planning high-design parks and developers use the provision of green space as an argument to create high-end housing projects, neighbourhood activist groups are rallying against this process and for environmental justice. While they can not fully stop gentrification processes in Chicago, they sometimes are able to stop or alter specific developments.
Green Gentrification and environmental injustice are ongoing issues in Chicago, and with a new mayor coming into office in 2023, it will be seen if the next government will address the issue with more determination.