Colored Blocks: Notions of Race and Space in a Chicago Neighborhood

Abstract

Race is institutionally embedded in U.S. society, and regarding recent events in Ferguson and Baltimore reveals that the black-and-white color line is still the most prominent and contested race relation in the U.S. We have chosen to study race from a spatial perspective as we observed that in Chicago, sharp racial divisions overlap with spatial, i.e. neighborhood, borders. The goal of this thesis is to gain an understanding of how race and space interplay and what meanings are given to this relation by residents. Therefore, the central question was formulated to the following: How do understandings of race shape public space and residents perceptions thereof in East Garfield Park, Chicago, Illinois? East Garfield Park is a neighborhood located on the West Side of Chicago, where we have researched these notions of race and space. In this way, this neighborhood serves as a case study to help gain understanding of how perceptions of race are formed and may change over time, and how these perceptions are connected to urban space. It uncovers race relations in the confined space of a predominantly black neighborhood and shows the perceptions that contribute to the formation of these race relations, which are in turn manifested in physical space."