Creating a Unified Business Elite: The Origins of the Chicago Central Area Committee

Abstract

This study examines the origins of the Chicago Central Area Committee, a downtown business group that formed in 1956 to provide a unified voice for business leaders in redevelopment planning for Chicago’s downtown area. Similar groups were established in cities around the country during the post—World War II era, providing the cohesive business leadership necessary for the formation of urban growth coalitions. While some studies have emphasized the role of economic conditions in the creation of downtown business groups, this study argues that political factors played a key role in the formation of the Central Area Committee. In particular, conflicts between downtown and neighborhood actors over redevelopment planning for the central area encouraged business elites to overcome their differences and mobilize around a common agenda. Business leaders united in part to seize control of a redevelopment program in which neighborhood actors played a significant role.