The Moat and The Maze
Honorable Mention | 2018 Chicago Prize
Wards are
the de facto local governing system in Chicago. Zoning policies, as well as
public services and facilities such as libraries, police stations, post
offices, schools, and parks, are governed at the level of the ward.
So what
happens if a neighborhood finds itself constantly changing wards?
The
objective of this proposal is to manifest the effects of gerrymandering through
the continuous redistricting of wards, and to demonstrate the social
consequences of such actions. More specifically, the project interprets the
research by Professor Robert Vargas at the University of Chicago of two
neighborhoods – Beverly and Little Village – and their ward affiliations over
time. Vargas maintains that these invisible lines, when frequently moved
around, have profound impacts on violence and crime in a neighborhood by
effectively cutting off communities from each other and their access to public
services and amenities.
The
proposal produces these lines in physical form, amplifying and making clear
their impact on a community, both as moats and as mazes. In the case of
suburban Beverly, the physical boundaries provide an extended barrier, a sort
of moat, that creates a stable and definitive distinction that isolates itself
from its neighbors. In urban Little Village, these boundaries create a maze, a zone
of chaos and congestion that fractures a community into smaller, incoherent pieces.
The
project attempts to materialize ward lines for what they are: methods of
fortification or disruption that despite their invisible nature, have
tremendous social and p
hysical impacts among a neighborhood and its community
members.
