Acknowledgements

The completion of an honors thesis is not only the end of a great academic feat, but also the first of many endings in one’s Harvard education. With that in mind, I would like to first thank my parents, Jean Ernard Estabine and Kristy Marie Estabine, whose sacrifices and hard work are the foundations on which I have had the privilege of attending this institution and pursuing this research. I would also like to thank my siblings, Lorgens, DaNae, and DeAndru Estabine, whose love I am forever fulfilled by. Equally responsible for the maintenance of my emotional and spiritual health, both before and during this project, are Ava Swanson, Autumn Dorsey, Nyckole Lazaro Quintero, Alex Dyer, Joseph Brower, Jesse Hernandez, Daniel Mhrous, Albert Zhang, and Tresor Nshimye, my dearest friends. 

This work would not have been possible without the support of the Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship, which funded my stay in Chicago, and provided me with the connections necessary to begin this work. One of those connections was to the amazing urban planning team at the Lamar Johnson Collaborative (LJC). Thank you for welcoming me with open arms. I would also like the thank the Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative, especially Professor Bruno Carvalho, for their financial support of this thesis, and supporting the wider distribution of these findings online (www.shapingchicago.com).

I would be remiss if I did not thank Nicolette Bardele, a better thesis advisor than I could have ever hoped for. Thank you for reading through countless chapter drafts, answering my endless questions, and helping me sort through my streams of confused consciousness. This thesis, in all its hefty glory, would not be possible without you. So many more thank you notes are owed the wonderful faculty of the Harvard Sociology Department who have shaped me into the scholar I am today, especially Professor Joscha Legewie for guiding all the sociology seniors through the thesis process this academic year.

My final thank you is dedicated to my God, who has been faithful at every stage and carried my heart and mind throughout the past four years and my entire life. At the core of this work is the desire to help others, which He has given me, and as the Psalmist proclaims: 

“Unless the Lord builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep”

(Psalm 127:1-2).

I would be lying if I said that I didn’t participate in some of that vain early rising and going late to rest during this process (much more of the latter in these past few months), but I am quite certain any sleep I did receive was only out of His love. It is only by His goodness—felt often through the love and support of those around me—that this work has finally come to completion.

I pray that it would be pleasing and acceptable to You, My Lord and My God.

—LyLena D. Estabine

March 2024