The New Chicago School of Urbanism and the New Daley Machine

Abstract

In the twentieth century, the “Chicago School” became a primary paradigm of urban studies. The demise of city machine governments, coupled with the changing settlement and business patterns, have rendered the “Old Chicago School” as outmoded but not irrelevant. Cities are multiracial metropolitan regions immersed in a global economy and are either not governed by machines or by radically different machines, even in Chicago. Nonetheless, similarities remain between the old machines and machine-like governance of today. The New Chicago School may be a template for global cities just as New York and Los Angeles provide models for others. This new school raises questions for scholars: (a) Is an autocratic mayor and a machine required to govern a twenty-first century city? (b) Will racial politics continue to be key? and (c) Can effective governance be created for a metropolitan region?