Transcript Chicago Site and Situation Example

Chicago
“Five Themes of
Geography”
“Site and Situation”
Mr. Stepek
LOCATION
• Absolute or• 42°N, 88°W
“Exact”
location
• Relative
location
• Describes where in reference to someplace else.
• Chicago lies between two watersheds
• Chicago is on the southern tip of Lake Michigan
and the Great Lakes
• Chicago is located in the middle of the United
States
Mississippi and Great Lakes
Watersheds
• Chicago was originally “desirable” as a portage site
between two watersheds for travelers by canoe.
• “Portage Park”
Chicago’s role was as coordinator
of north-south and east-west flows
lumber traveled
from north to
south
Chicago’s role was as coordinator
of north-south and east-west flows
hardware had to
be directed
from east to
west
Early Railroad hub
Situation =
“Nation’s Freight Handler”
Situation = Chicago is a major
transportation hub
LOCATION
• Absolute or• 42°N, 88°W
“Exact”
location
• Relative
location
• Describes where in reference to someplace else.
• Chicago lies between two watersheds
• Chicago is on the southern tip of Lake Michigan
and the Great Lakes
• Chicago is centrally located within the U.S.
• Chicago is on the eastern edge of the agricultural
heartland
Situation = “Stacker of Wheat”
Situation = “Hog Butcher to the
World”
Major center of commodity
exchanges
LOCATION
• Absolute or• 42°N, 88°W
“Exact”
location
• Relative
location
• Describes where in reference to someplace else.
• Chicago lies between two watersheds
• Chicago is on the southern tip of Lake Michigan
and the Great Lakes
• Chicago is centrally located within the U.S.
• Chicago is on the eastern edge of the agricultural
heartland
• Chicago is located near abundant coal fields.
• Chicago is located close to the Iron Range of
Minnesota (1st)
Chicago =
“the City
that Works”,
“the City of
Big
Shoulders”
Situation =
Chicago was a
center of heavy
industry!
Region: commonalities between places
• 3 ways to discuss region
• Formal or uniform
• Illinois, city of Chicago, wards, townships, etc.
• prairie, watershed
• Functional or nodal
• Transportation hub (RRs, Air travel)
• Meatpacking center
• Commodity exchanges with global hinterland
(area of service)
• Perceptual or vernacular
• “Rust Belt” = decaying industrial base
Place: how can a location be
described?
Physical
• climate and vegetation
• prairie
• terrain/landform
• flat
• lake shore
• between two watersheds
• Great Lakes
• Mississippi Valley
• built terrain
• skyscrapers
• bungalows
Place: how can a location be
described?
People
• demographics
• 2.7 million (Chicago)
• 9 million + (Metro area)
• 3rd largest in U.S.
• population/cultural stats
• Multiethnic
• Industry attracts immigrants attracted to Chicago
• Economic stats
• Situation = Diversified economic base
• Not a “one-trick” pony (see Detroit)
• Commodities, Industry, Tourism, Finance, Technology
• If a country, Chicagoland would have the 21st largest
economy
• $531b is equivalent to Switzerland or Poland or Belgium’s GDP
Interaction: the relationship between
humans and their environment.
Adaptation
• How do
humans  to
better fit into
their
environment.
Modification
• How do humans  their environment to
better suit themselves, examples:
• Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal
• Helps industry thrive (industrial center
situation)
• Chicago city planning
• Burnham Plan = open lakefront
• Grant Park/Streeterville landfill
• Cities “front yard”, the “bean”
• Museums, McCormick Place, Navy Pier
• Chicago River flow reversed
• Drinking water and clean beaches
• Situation = Tourism! Chicago is
beautiful/clean
Movement
• Industry attracts people to Chicago
• “Titans of Industry”
• George Pullman = railcars, model worker society
• McCormick reaper
• Sears catalog
• Germans
• Labor movement, 8-hour work day, anarchism, socialism
• Haymarket riot = May Day
Movement
• Industry attracts people to Chicago
• “Titans of Industry”
• George Pullman = railcars, model worker society
• McCormick reaper
• Sears catalog
• Germans
• Labor movement, 8-hour work day, anarchism, socialism
• Haymarket riot = May Day
• African-Americans
• Great Migration
• African- Americans from South move North
• Attracted to industrial jobs
• Chicago gets African-Americans from Mississippi Delta
region
Movement
• Industry attracts people to Chicago
• “Titans of Industry”
• George Pullman = railcars, model worker society
• McCormick reaper
• Sears catalog
• Germans
• Labor movement, 8-hour work day, anarchism, socialism
• Haymarket riot = May Day
• African-Americans
• Great Migration
• African- Americans from South move North
• Attracted to industrial jobs
• Chicago gets African-Americans from Mississippi Delta
region