The Personality of Cities

Turns Out Where You Live Really Does Shape Who You Are (Emily Badger, Atlantic Cities)

I would certainly agree with the theory that cities can be characterized by certain cultures, personalities and priorities. Much of this has to do with history and geography as well as the economies and institutions that tend to dominate communities. These qualities not only influence those who grow up in these cities - they are often part of the magnetic pull that particular places have on certain personalities. The recession not withstanding, Americans have become increasingly mobile over the last century. Now, more than ever, those with means choose where they want to live. This has lead many to argue that we have become as segregated by our political persuasions and recreational subcultures as we have by our income and ethnicity (The Big Sort). This goes beyond segregation within a city to segregation between metropolitan areas.

There's an argument that globalization is making everywhere the same - the same chain stores, the same suburban / edge city style development. To a certain extent this is true. There really isn't that much difference between Arlington, Virginia and Buckhead, Atlanta. However, on a larger scale and despite the supposed leveling effects of globalization, many cities are now defined more by particular personality traits and subcultures than ever before. Though these stereotypes obviously don't apply to all or even a majority of the metropolis, they can be used to understand a city's broader identity. In many cases city's market their identity as a kind of "lifestyle brand" to footloose residents and tourists. The city, in other words, becomes another commodity in our consumer culture. Incredibly complex metropolitan areas are thus reduced to sound-bites in an age of instant communication and mobility. In our consumer culture it has become more advantageous to be easily identifiable, understood and consumed than to be complex or interesting. The city, like the individual, becomes defined by a subculture.

Since graduating from college I've witnessed first-hand how my friends and associates have scattered across the country. Again, we're talking about a relatively small demographic - educated, typically from relatively well-to-do families, etc. Friends involved with cultural production gravitated to New York or L.A. Friends that wanted to be near mountains gravitated toward Denver and Seattle and so on...

Where does Chicago fit into this mix? People move to Chicago for many of the same basic reasons they move to other cities - for a job, to go to school, to be near family, etc. But unless you're from the Midwest or pursuing theater, Chicago probably isn't the number one destination that comes to your mind. Aaron Renn argues that Chicago's global status suffers from its lack of a magnetic industry (entertainment in L.A., finance in New York, government in D.C., etc.). No single industry dominates Chicago. It's a center of culture but not a media magnet like New York, L.A. or even Atlanta. We don't have mountains. We do have an incredible inland sea, but that isn't the first thing that comes to most outsiders minds when they think of Chicago. Instead, the national and global cultural imagination of Chicago tends to fall back on its history - namely gangsters, industry, cold weather, corruption and architecture. None of these historic characteristics define contemporary Chicago more than any number of other qualities - corporate service industries, food, craft brewing, sports, beaches and, increasingly, tech and logistics. Concentrated poverty and persistent gang violence on the South and West sides continues to overshadow the countless ways the City is changing while perpetuating Chicago's historic gangster stereotype.

At the end of the day, all of this adds up to a city's who's apparent underlying personality is that of the pragmatic tough guy. Ms. Badger's article states that Chicagoan's are "sensible." That might be a euphemism for "Midwestern," but I'll take it as a compliment. In a celebrity-obsessed culture dominated by the promise of wealth, at time when very real problems need to be addressed, Chicago's greatest asset may be its honesty and authenticity.

Other cities and towns are nice, some have better weather and fewer perceived problems, but no other great American city feels as open and honest as Chicago. It's been suggested recently that the larger Rust Belt has become more attractive to the younger generation for exactly this reason (Rust Belt Chic). We're tired of empty promises and fake facades. Every time I visit another region of the country I feel like I've stepped into someone else's daydream - as if there is a complete lack of self-awareness. As if everyone else is distracted.

This isn't to say that cultural myths aren't present in Chicago - its just that there's something about being in the Midwest that keeps Chicago from getting as caught up in the fads and obsessions of contemporary culture. Part of this has to do with the fact that media exposure is so heavily concentrated in New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. But it also has something to do with the personality of the place itself. The East Coast is always looking back across the Atlantic. From the Neo-Georgian mansions of Northern Virginia to the fashion and art of New York to the academics and yatch clubs of New England - East Coast insecurities still revolve around not being European enough. It is the First Born, trying to be like its father. The West Coast looks out to the abyss of the Pacific. It's insecurities are tied to a kind of existential crisis. It is the aloof, wondering daughter. The South looks back in on itself and grows insecure in its fear and discomfort with rest of the world. It wants something for nothing (the comforts of civilization without paying for them). It is the baby of the family. Chicago looks around and sees all of North America. It's insecurity lies in putting in a life of hard work without much notice from the rest of the family. It is the middle child of America. Perhaps that's part of what makes it "sensible."