Sinking Chicago: Climate Change and the Remaking of a Flood-Prone Environment (Urban Life, Landscape and Policy)

Synopsis

Harold Platt Shows How People Responded To Climate Change In One American City Over A Hundred-and-fifty-year Period. During A Long Dry Spell Before 1945, City Residents Lost Sight Of The Connections Between Land Use, Flood Control, And Water Quality. Then, A Combination Of Suburban Sprawl And A Wet Period Of Extreme Weather Events Created Damaging Runoff Surges That Sank Chicago And Contaminated Drinking Supplies With Raw Sewage. Chicagoans Had To Learn How To Remake A City Built On A Prairie Wetland. They Organized A Grassroots Movement To Protect The Six River Watersheds In The Semi-sacred Forest Preserves From Being Turned Into Open Sewers, Like The Chicago River. The Politics Of Outdoor Recreation Clashed With The Politics Of Water Management. Platt Charts A Growing Constituency Of Citizens Who Fought A Corrupt Political Machine To Reclaim The Region's Waterways And Lake Michigan As A Single Eco-system. Environmentalists Contested Policymakers' Heroic, Big-technology Approaches With Small-scale Solutions For A Flood-prone Environment. Sinking Chicago Lays Out A Roadmap To Future Planning Outcomes.-- The Dry Years -- Introduction : Cities, Sprawl, And Climate Change -- The Triumph Of Metropolitanism, 1885-1910 -- The Defeat Of Conservationism, 1910-1920 -- The Rise And Fall Of The American Dream, 1920-1945 -- The Wet Years -- The Boom Of Suburban Growth, 1945-1965 -- The Bust Of Urban Decline, 1965-1985 -- The Rebirth Of Urban Nature, 1985-2011 -- Conclusion : Cities, Adaptation, And Prairie Wetlands. Harold L. Platt. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.