From alleys to aldermen, Chicago's fortunes tied to charts and graphs
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (1-9-08)
Maps don't just describe the landscape. They can transform it.
It's because of a map that Chicago has 1,900 miles of alleys, the most in the world. Maps were key in making the lakefront beautiful -- and in helping to ruin some neighborhoods.
A 172-year-old map is at the center of the ongoing dispute in Chicago about building the new Children's Museum in Grant Park.
Maps have made the careers of some Chicago alderman -- and destroyed those of others. Indeed, Paul M. Green, a professor of policy studies at Roosevelt University, says his mentor, the late Milton Rakove, a University of Illinois at Chicago political scientist, often observed, "One mapmaker is worth 500 precinct workers."
Maps have shaped Chicago. And still do.
It's because of a map that Chicago has 1,900 miles of alleys, the most in the world. Maps were key in making the lakefront beautiful -- and in helping to ruin some neighborhoods.
A 172-year-old map is at the center of the ongoing dispute in Chicago about building the new Children's Museum in Grant Park.
Maps have made the careers of some Chicago alderman -- and destroyed those of others. Indeed, Paul M. Green, a professor of policy studies at Roosevelt University, says his mentor, the late Milton Rakove, a University of Illinois at Chicago political scientist, often observed, "One mapmaker is worth 500 precinct workers."
Maps have shaped Chicago. And still do.
Source:
Chicago Tribune
Source URL:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0109chicago.mapsjan09,0,6536623.story
Date:
1-9-08
