Abstract

“Shaping Chicago” explores the dynamics of ownership and trust among Chicago residents and their impact on community engagement in shaping the physical aspects of their neighborhoods. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach including interviews of residents, planners, and community organizers, city-wide quantitative data analysis, ethnographic observations, and content analysis of We Will Chicago project meetings, the study spans across all of Chicago’s diverse communities, focusing on present-day interpersonal experiences residents and planners have while also considering potential impacts from historical divestment in particular regions. This study reveals that residents’ sense of ownership is less influenced by monetary investment, and more significantly shaped by temporal investment, social cohesion, and change making abilities. DIY actions, or actions without permission, can sometimes arise as an expression of ownership and community action. Trust was found to be low across the city but is notably worse in areas of greater hardship. This mistrust stemmed from a combination of historical wrongdoing and negative personal experiences with the city. Between planners and residents, trust was established as important to collaboration, but the two-way nature of that trust was not fully understood, with some confusion from planners on the necessity of trusting residents. Furthermore, city initiatives aimed at improving the relationship between residents and the city often fall short and have the inverse effect, perpetuating mistrust among residents. These findings hold key insights for the future of urban planning, particularly increasing residents’ engagement within community-based design efforts. It also contributes to our understanding of resident-city dynamics for future studies in urban sociology.