Mapping Chicago's Homeless

For our First and only action Project in our mapping class - Thin Red Lines, we set out to create maps about problems and issues around Chicago. I decided to focus on the issue of homelessness around Chicago. Each student in the class created three maps that would map the past(what homelessness was like in the past) the present (what homelessness should look like today)  and the future(what homelessness would look like in the future for the demand of abolishing it). Throughout the class we learned what it was like to map an area, what issues come along with mapping certain areas, and how to obtain data sets from sources. I really enjoyed this class though we did learn a lot about TIFs and how they can easily be corrupted, besides that I really enjoyed learning about the good and bad of mapping things, places, and subjects. I hope you enjoy learning about my endeavors of mapping homelessness in Chicago.





Homeless rate legend

Yellow - 0% - 1%
Pink -  1.1% - 2.5%
Brown - 2.6% - 4%
 Black - 4% - 5.4%
Green -  5.5% -7%
Blue -  7.1% - 8.5%
Orange - 8.5% - 10%

Past Map 1st Layer
To view this map - open and view Layer one (Past Map 1)

This first map is the map that maps how the past looks for homeless neighborhoods around Chicago. The Maps each have a corresponding homeless rate along with the count of homeless people in Chicago. They Key besides the map shows what each color represents for the data in 2016. Pink is 1% - 2.5% of the population being homeless and brown is 2.6% - 4% of the population in that area being without a home. Something that really stuck out to me was Yellow and where it it existed the most. Yellow is 0% - 1% of the population being homeless and it mainly exists all throughout the south side of Chicago. From Englewood to Archer heights to Woodlawn they all have a homeless rate under 1%. The rest of Chicago is all mixed varieties of homeless people with the Loop having the largest homeless population in the city of 75 homeless people and a 9.7% homeless rate in 2016 and even worse in 2017.

I also decided to note where some homeless shelters and homeless services are for the people living on the streets. I think it’s important to focus on the goal of pointing out where good places are for helping these people and in the other maps point out where more places like this could exist. The map highlights a few key places in each neighborhood area that could be beneficial for people without a home. The future map will highlight so more beneficiary places that could exist for people living like this.

Present Map 2nd Layer
To view this map - open and view Layers one and two (Past Map 1) (Present Map 2)

There is not many homeless shelters in the southern of Chicago, there isn’t as much of a demand for homeless shelter because the homeless rate in southern Chicago is very low. Because of the low rates of homeless people in Chicago there is no need for me to put hypothetical homeless shelter place possibilities. I really tried to place Shelters and resources where people needed them most; where there seemed to be a lack of homeless shelters. This map marks some of the largest vacant spaces in these neighborhoods. I only marked vacant lots around Chicago, so nothing major would be destroyed. The community should still be maintained so only unused lots will be used to create and solve the homeless issue of Chicago.
Future Map 3rd Layer
To view this map - open and view Layers two and three (Present Map 2) (Future Map 3)

This Final map shows off possibilities for the future that I based off from my first two maps.I included the places where homes shelters and resources are going to best utilized. From the community demand based off the the data, the map works as a plan to put those homeless shelters down making the future map look how it looks. The map also includes the previous homeless shelters around Chicago because those will not be going down for any reason. The future map also includes new homeless rates for each neighborhood area. I adjusted each of the homeless rates by 1% to show if we were all working to complete on total goal to work on homelessness. I wanted to predict and show how the community could be better with more shelters so, I decided to lower the rates if the shelters and resources were built and provided. Every color on the map still applies to the key below the map.

As you can see, southern Chicago hasn’t really changed due to its low homeless rates all throughout. The Southern side of Chicago remains a yellow color, with most of the south side having a 0% homeless rate. The rest of Chicago still has pretty high homeless rates including the Loop. The Loop is in danger because it has the highest homeless rate in the city as of now, but very little space to build homeless shelters that could help the surplus of people living downtown.


Citations

Voorhees Center for Neighborhood & Community Improvement. “2017 HOMELESS Point-In-Time Count & Survey Report.” Cityofchicago.org, University of Illinois at Chicago, 

“Chicago Homeless Shelters & Services For The Needy.” Chicago Homeless Shelters and Services - Chicago IL Homeless Shelters, Homeless Shelter Directory,

“Chicago Lots - Explore vacant City-Owned lots.” Chicago Lots - Explore vacant City-Owned lots, chicagolots.org/.

Observer 1

In the first an only Action project of our Elective term class, Rocket Science, we did a series of activities along with some educational field experiences. When starting the class, we were determined to learn about the physics concepts of rockets, historic events/figures, and what rocket science in the field looks like. Our class traveled on several field experiences such as the Adler Planetarium and the MSI. I enjoyed how involved and connected the class was; from the first mini-mission everything was being connected to our final action project: the launch of our rockets. This action project was about making our space launch real. From explaining the naming behind our rockets to how much it costs to graphing the parabolic height of the flight. Today, you will learn about the launch of my rocket: Observer 1. I hope you enjoy.