Deindustrial Chicago and the Ruralization of The Jungle

Abstract

This brief essay proposes ways of seeing the city and the country as relational and interdependent, cued to a cultural moment at which these spaces are often scripted as occupying separate worlds with distinct issues and dilemmas. It does so by juxtaposing the present‐day struggles of Chicago's Back of the Yards, the setting of Upton Sinclair's infamous 1906 meatpacking exposé The Jungle, in relation to ascendant and highly industrialized pockets of the countryside. In developing a notion of ruralization, the essay seeks to draw attention to how specific industrial ruralities dwell within deindustrial cities, complicating well‐worn discourses that see urbanization as a unilinear teleology.

Urbanizing Islands: A Critical History of Singapore's Offshore Islands

“…natural surroundings, kampong landscapes, etc.) (Blanchette, 2019). This serves to primarily feed into the needs of urban population such as for nostalgia, nature or to counteract the social and ecological costs of urbanization towards supplementing food security, and enhancing mental well-being and/or tourism revenues (Wheeler, 2017).…”

“…Conceptualizing urbanization and ruralization as processes helps us to then capture the complex reality of socio-spatial formations and relations that defies being on either side of the spectrum, such that ‘the distinction between urban and rural [should be seen] as a continuum rather than as a categorical distinction’ (Krause, 2013: 236). Under this framework, urbanization is but one of the agents of change within cities, ruralization being another, the latter a way to meet the needs of urban populations while still pursuing urban economic growth and development, although this has not been without accompanying issues, as we discuss below (Blanchette, 2019).…”

“…In the spirit of ruralization, Pulau Semakau is thus partially accessible to the public for recreational activities such as inter-tidal walks, stargazing, birdwatching and fishing (Ng, 2012). This achievement is promoted by the government as a strategy of balancing the goals of waste disposal needs (as a by-product of urbanization) with nature conservation, to mitigate against the complete subsumation of cultural and natural heritage (Blanchette, 2019: 88; Cantor, 2020). In fact, Semakau landfill is widely celebrated as an “eco-dump”, and regularly receives officials from other countries hoping to learn from Singapore's expertise in waste management (Chan, 2016).…”