Population Density:
Animation of changes
1940 – 2000
The trick to reading this map is to keep your eyes on the second highest category, a red swatch with a dark outline. This is the same category that was visibly changing in the last map series, but the coloring and animation here highlights the changes that I mentioned.
This shows how although the “L” was surrounded by some of the densest tracts in 1940, overtime they started losing population while other areas in and, mostly, around Chicago started gaining density.
You can pinpoint decades when certain lines of the “L” started really losing population in their environs. For example, the southerly Red and Green Lines run through neighborhoods that experienced decreasing density from 1940 until 1980, when they were all of a sudden drained of all of their densest tracts. The westbound Green and Blue Lines are also surrounded by the greatest period of density loss around 1980, after which point density really fizzles out around the “L” tracts.
The loss of density around the northerly lines, however, is much more gradual. Unlike the westbound and southbound lines, the northbound lines go through relatively affluent neighborhoods. Tracts in this area likely experienced decreases in density due to people moving out to the suburbs and demolition of old apartment buildings. These remain heavy commuter areas, though. Moreover, much of this northerly stretch is still considered to be part of the city of Chicago. People in this area are more inclined to behave as urbanites than suburbanites, and this includes patronizing the “L.”
Also, the inset map at the bottom shows how by 2000 there even seems to be a resurgence of population density in the Loop area, as it is known colloquially because of the loop that the “L” lines form around that segment of downtown.
But how dramatic were the changes in population each decade? Which decade sticks out as the most dramatic between 1940 and 2000, either for its widespread growth or for its widespread loss of population?
CLICK to see a normalized view of how much population really changed per decade in these areas between 1940 and 2000.