Field Mapping of Residential Areas in Metropolitan Chicago

Abstract

A high proportion of the occupied area in every large American city is utilized for residential purposes. This type of land occupance occurs for the most part in definite districts that differ markedly in character one from another. The distribution of many of the features which give residential districts their individuality can be shown more effectively by means of maps than by any other device. Not a few of these features are commonly recorded on several types of maps now in use. Standard large-scale topographic maps of cities, for example, show not only the street plan which divides residential districts into blocks, but they also reveal something of the ground size and spacing of buildings. The latter facts are of necessity more or less concealed by generalization on all except very large scale maps, and -in some cases the topographic map alone does not make it possible to determine whether or not a given section of a city is residential, in part or in entirety. Maps prepared by city planning commissions show facts as to size and type of buildings in residential areas. Large-scale maps, published and revised at frequent intervals by the Sanborn Map Company, give rather full det-ii1s as to materials out of which buildings are constructed, as irve11 as other information of special utility to real estate dealers andzl insurance -companies. Maps exhibiting urban land values have beeiprepared by economists, and there exist for most municipalities maps which show land ownership. City maps made by sociologists reveal the distribution of various population elements, as well as the spread of selected social traits. Numerous maps of qities also have been made by geographers, showing among other things the. location and extent of areas occupied for residen1ial ptrposes, the spacing of structures within such areas, whether close or open, the type of structures, whether single houses or apartment buildings, and the quality of the dwelling quarters afforded, whether high, medium, or low.