Project Overview
In the fall of 2023, I completed the course “Introduction to Critical Spatial Media,” which centered around the iterative and collective creation of a “3/4 Coast Atlas.” Students were expected to construct a single narrative or “geo-story” through a variety of spatial media, scales, and techniques/platforms. The following work represents the collaborative efforts of the Urbanocene group, comprising Zach Ashby, Jonathan Garcia, Maggie Ottenbreit, and Mia Rodgers.
What is the 3/4 Coast?
The 3/4 Coast comprises the watery geographies of Chicago and the Great Lakes– the so-called “Third Coast” of the United States– and their conjuncture with the Mississippi River watershed– the “Fourth Coast.”
What is the Urbanocene?
Originating during the Industrial Revolution, the Urbanocene chronicles an intense period characterized by rapid urban growth, significant environmental transformation, population growth, and the rise of capitalism.
What is a golden spike?
A golden spike serves as a spatial metaphor through which a geological epoch can be best understood.
What is the subject of our geo-story?
We propose a golden spike for the Urbanocene, rooted in a space that best exemplifies the local and global processes that have come to define urbanization: Lake Calumet, Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.
Where is Lake Calumet?
Lake Calumet is the largest body of water in the city of Chicago, America’s third-largest urbanized area. Formed by glacial retreat at the end of the last ice age, the lake became the center of one of the largest and most biodiverse wetland ecosystems in North America. As Chicago rapidly developed in the late 19th century, the lake was annexed into city limits and was prized for its connectivity via the Calumet River to Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River basin.
How has it changed?
Much of the wetland ecosystem, including parts of the lake itself, was heavily industrialized beginning in the late 1880s as the region was transformed into one of the world’s most productive steelmaking powerhouses. As factories, steel mills, and evolving civic interests competed for access to the region, the lake’s shape was substantially filled in and altered, spatially demonstrating the impact of urbanization on the region. Lake Calumet has experienced fundamental spatial and ecological changes over the last few centuries that are irrevocably tied to processes of urbanization: industrialization, migration, global economic trade, pollution, environmental degradation, and more.
What is the objective of our “geo-story?”
Our geo-story intends to track some of these changes through specific sites at and around Lake Calumet to demonstrate its centrality in telling the story of global urbanization and its impact on the environment. Through a diverse array of spatial media, we aim to prove that Lake Calumet’s unique history and spatial characteristics qualify it to serve as a golden spike for the Urbanocene. Each piece of media unravels a chosen space, exposing gaps in traditional spatial representation and depicting a history shaped by evolving urban needs.
