Mapping Social Assets in the Lake Calumet Region Why do people continue to live in a place that has been characterized at various times as a "ghost town," the "armpit of the city," or "surreal? How are residents and other interested parties defining environment and ecology in this region? What is the relationship between different residents’ uses of and concerns for the environment and the biodiversity efforts? What are the ways in which people are constructing place in relation to the changing landscapes of this paradoxical region? In 2001, the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change received a grant from the USDA Forest Service to conduct ethnographic research in the Lake Calumet region of Chicago to address these issues, and a related grant was made by the Forest Service to incorporate data on the fishing and fish consumption patterns of subsistence anglers in the area. The Lake Calumet Region is a unique sector of the Chicago metropolitan region where de-industrialization has created a complex geography of abandoned factory sites, residential neighborhoods, and open space areas containing some of the richest biological diversity in the entire Northern Illinois region. This research can contribute a missing piece in the puzzle of Calumet restoration and revitalization by illuminating the vital connection between the environmental and economic concerns held by residents of the region and those of external interested parties. Further, increased understanding of how and why people use particular places can illuminate and reduce barriers to effective participation in the conservation and sustainable use of natural areas, particularly in the urban context. Continue

	Center for Cultural Understanding and Change (CCUC) Mapping Social Assets in the Lake Calumet Region Perspectives on Civic Activism and City Life Internship program Faculty Institute