"The Pursuit of Happiness"

To often does society create this idealistic scenario of the life we could live if only we live a certain life. We must value education, live an upright life and be ambitious and the pursuit of happiness is guaranteed to be reached. However city life has its way of smothering all your goals and aspirations, while forcing you to live a life you never saw yourself indulging in. From our reading from last week the section that stuck out to me most was about the “charity girl.”

The charity girl was in many ways the poster child for what success looked like. She achieved further education, she obeyed the ten commandments, she even had ambition. However, the moment she chose Chicago as the place to pursue her music, all those things that made her destined for success dwindled as time went by. There was no personal connection with anyone, because the city is filled with millions of souls but no one seeks community within the city. She states “The city is like that. In all my work there had been the same lack of personal touch. In all this city of three million souls I knew no one, cared for on one, was cared for by no one.”

From the moment I moved into the city for Chicago Term, I have felt this disconnect from the rest of civilization. Everyone seems to be on a their own mission, with no time or want for anyone outside of the already known. One day while at Tailor Lofts I was curious on who the people were that I was living with in this ten floor building full of students that I only see in passing. At an attempt to get to know at least those on my floor, I went door to door to introduce myself and hopefully learn more about them. However, I was in a rude awakening because instead of running into welcoming faces, everyone seemed a little off balance for my audacity to even bother them with my introduction.

The city is so disconnected from establishing personable connections everyone puts themselves into solidarity. No one looks past their own situation or life because in the city no one else matters but self. Although the story of the “charity girl” was one of misfortune, it is not a rare occurrence unfortunately. For those who come into the city by themselves are at an great risk of being consumed by the selfishness of the city and will have a lesser shot at the pursuit of happiness.

Make No Small Plans...

In early 1900’s Daniel Burnham had a vision for what he wanted Chicago to look like and the way it functioned. To demonstrate his vision he put together a detailed plan in his book titled Plan of Chicago. The plan was used to highlight the many issues within the city life and ways to create a place that people would actually want to live. On page 98 of his book he states,  “At no period in its history has the city looked far enough ahead. The mistakes of the past should be warnings for the future. There can be no responsible fear lest any plans that may be adopted shall prove too broad or comprehensive.”  This statement was extremely justifiable because just from the mere reality of how Chicago functions now as appose to those times, it took efficient planning. The more time and effort you put into something, the better chance of have a well functioning product. Although Burnham passed before his plan could go into effect, all the time that him and those who took over, allowed for most of his plan to go through.

However, Chicago is slowly moving away from Burnham’s plan for the city, which was to make it a place that people wanted to live. Due to Burnham’s focus on highways and railways, he lost focus of what people need most which is livable housing. Although he did a phenomenal job at making Chicago a beautiful place to visit, to live here is difficult for those who are not financially stable. For those without middle class and upper class finances you do not have much chose in where you live. Due this this inconvenience everyone is placed with their own race and class, creating this enormous segregation between those who reside in the city. Thus creating a solidarity between all Chicago residents, not allowing for much interaction with anyone outside your “community.”

Burnham states, “Time and again, the Plan maintains that terrible living conditions diminish the individual and, by extension, the entire city, and so should be of concern to the prosperous as well as the less fortunate.” Unless those of less fortune are soon taken into account when it comes to creating functional parks, livable housing, community etc, than in some 100 years the city will not be livable for even the fortunate. In order to make Chicago a place that everyone would want to live healthy and comfortably we must start with housing and create a better sense of community and less segregation.

"Urbanism as a Way of Life"

Ever sense I moved into Tailor Lofts a month ago, I have found an intriguing difference in the city life as appose to Naperville suburban living. After reading “Urbanism as a Way of Life” by Louis Wirth, he puts city life into perspective through describing the distinctive “way of life” within these areas. Wirth breaks the city down into three categories that loosely defines the city. He proclaims that cities are relatively large in size and population. In addition dense and permanent settlement of heterogeneous individuals (unique people). Having experienced “city” living, I do agree with Wirth’s perception of urban living. The city is much larger in size in comparison to suburbs and rural areas. Cities are also extremely dense, the entire city is structured in a compacted way. Within these compacted neighborhoods, there is extreme versatility amongst the people who live within these cities. Although each of these characteristics do still apply in contemporary society, there are a vast array of additional elements that constitute a city.

One of the significant variables that are associated with city living that we spoke about in class is “spatial structure.” Spatial structure has to do with the extreme difference within city neighborhoods. In cities you can travel a mere block and encounter complete difference rather it is a difference in race, violence, sexuality etc. In suburban areas such as Naperville if you travel a block or a mile there is not much variance in what you will witness. This aspect of city life fascinates me, because its hundreds of mini cities within one large city.

In addition to the spatial structure being a feature of city living, Wirth also failed to highlight the fast paced nature of city living. In cities everything moves at a much faster pace, from the people, to the vehicles. It was interesting walking downtown during our class on Wednesday. The entire time the environment was extremely fast pace, regardless if we were in someone’s way, their pace remained the same, even if it meant bumping into us or in a fast pace migrating around us. The moment those lights turn green, there wasn’t much caution in their pursuit, they speed away within the very second of seeing a green light.

I also believe the media plays a huge role in structuring city living. The media gives city different exposure than suburbs and rural areas. The media has created a certain perception of what city living entails. Overall, city life versus suburban or rural living is not just one element but all these different features create this idea of what a city really is.