Captioning sponsored by annenberg cpb narrator north america is comprised of canada and the united states. These two highlyadvanced and comparatively wealthy countries are home to an extremely urbanized and mobile population. In the u. S. , many urban areas are characterized by diverse cultures, which create a rich ethnic mosaic. Our focus is boston, massachusetts, part of a megalopolis located on the northeastern seaboard of the united states. Here, as in Many American cities, ethnic populationss have taken root in older innercity neighborhoods. In recent decades, these neighborhoods deteriorated, with a downward spiral in infrastructure, services and opportunities. But now boston is bouncing back. Well see how relative location to the Central Business district, or cbd, is important to the development of these neighborhoods how so much can ride on their being part of federallyfunded enterprise zones and how Geographic Information systems, or gis, can be used in addressing some difficult urban economic and social issues. Boston, massachusetts. Once a great port, its now a world leader in high tech, higher education, medicine and finance. But like most u. S. Cities, boston lost many jobs and middleclass residents to the suburbs. Its a regional problem part of the widening gap between the wealthiest and the poorest americans. This disparity has glaring spatial symptoms. rap music playing from car stereo left behind are innercity neighborhoods full of unemployed and underemployed residents. In the heart of the roxbury neighborhood is Dudley Square, still the regional hub for the city bus line, once, only Downtown Boston had more shoppers. Today, it is rundown, according to developer Joyce Stanley. Stanley dudleys been an area thats been neglected for a long time by the city, by a lot of banks and the state. And what we want is something to be able to develop some of the buildings, the large buildings that we have in our area. Narrator the hope is that large restored buildings might attract new employers to the area. Its a gamble boston needs to make using someone elses money. They desperately need jobs to combat poverty. Its 1994, and the city has just entered a competition. But unlike this friendly street game, the stakes for boston are high, and the clock is ticking. Cities across the country are vying for new federal grants for something called an empowerment zone a special area of the worst poverty. First prize up to 100 million. To spearhead bostons efforts, the mayor enlisted geographer linda haar. When mayor menino first asked me to begin to work with the community to establish our empowerment zone plan, i sat back and started to think about boston from the perspective of a geographer, which is my training, and ive looked at boston along spatial lines. Narrator to help do that, haars team uses a Geographic Information system to map relative poverty levels for each census tract. Unfortunately, there are too many poor neighborhoods that qualify. There are many ways to draw the empowerment zone boundary that will decide who can and cannot receive the employment training, Development Money and jobs. But some of the choices stand out. Haar you can really define who lives in what neighborhood, what is their cultural background and where are the neighborhoods that are living in poverty. And unfortunately, they happen to have a very strong relationship. Narrator but theyre not all classic minority neighborhoods. Marty nee is a leader from south boston, on the harbor, where most residents are white irishamericans. Maybe the face of poverty in boston is not just black; maybe its not just hispanic; maybe theres a broader face of poverty that we need to look at. Woman one of the reasons for that, too, is. Narrator the census maps bear him out, and today, nee joins leaders from other neighborhoods at a meeting called by linda haar. The goal to review a draft proposal to the federal government. It looked like. Narrator Joyce Stanley presses her case for Dudley Square and adjacent grove hall. Grove hall has more social Service Agencies than any other community, dudley also. Narrator the historical geography of bostons diverse neighborhoods is full of conflict. But the competing leaders know they can win only by uniting and drawing a politically inclusive map. So parts of south boston join roxbury, chinatown and other areas in the empowerment zone proposal. But there are other factors besides race and poverty. The proposal takes advantage of south bostons location relative to the citys key transportation infrastructure the harbor, the interstate highways and a new tunnel to the airport. Adjacent neighborhoods also contain underutilized industrial space. According to some experts, New Enterprise will succeed only if it exploits fundamental geographic advantages. Commerce in roxbury, for instance, should capitalize on close physical connections to the Central Business district. Here, proximity can partially compensate for a population with low worker skills. Hopeful that their at lproposal integrates. The best economic, political and urban geography, the boston team meets one last time before submission. What we have been able to do, i believe, is to incorporate all of the important points that people have made. Narrator they submit the proposal and begin the waiting game. Six months later, the winners are announced, and boston receives a 47 million second prize. young men cheering narrator though less than hoped for, the money will fund the highest priorities. Six years later, and the landscape shows signs ofevitalation. Woman whoa, stay on the sidewalk narrator in south boston, this Seafood Processing Company received federal grants and lowinterest loans to build on city land in the empowerment zone. A key incentive is a tax credit for each resident hired from the zone. In Dudley Square, the bus station has received a facelift. The remodeled Fairfield Center has welcomed hundreds of government employees. Nearby the square, these orchard park Affordable Housing units are scheled foan. Nearby the square, these orchard parin adjacent grove hall,its a large chain constructs a new supermarket. The city offered them incentives to move into neighborhoods they had once ignored. The hope is to bring greater convenience and competitive prices, while anchoring this small shopping center. An intangible result of empowerment zone funding is more cultural and psychological. Neighborhood and ethnic pride is part of the strategy to promote selfsufficiency and growth. Its a spirit you can feel in places like the popular la cocina restaurant at merengue. This project is like a dream come true. Narrator hector pina is part of the sizable Latino Community here, and with federal loans and grants, la cocina will expand from 22 seats into this adjacent space for 90. Most of the contractors are local, so what we did was, we tried to recycle the money within the community. Narrator in 1999, as the first empowerment zone funds start to really pay off, boston gets more great news. They are awarded the full 100 million first prize by the u. S. Government, along with 14 other u. S. Cities. And to put information in the database. Narrator now the emphasis is less on buildings and more on human development, like teaching english as a second language and jobtraining classes like this one. America watches to see the impact on the urban landscape. Boston, like other u. S. Cities, experienced a decline in many of its innermost neighborhoods. Often the poorer, culturally diverse populations living there lack access to resources such as highquality education or job opportunities. But in an effort to revitalize boston, we saw how City Planners used Geographic Information systems, or gis, to analyze economic and Demographic Data in mapping an empowerment zone. We saw how relative location to the Central Business district providing their residents links to transportation and jobs. S as cities across america seek to reenergize their urban cores, geography can provide the tools and concepts for successful urban planning efforts. In north america, growing cities are being transformed as more and more People Choose to live and work far from the old urban centers. Such is the case in chicago, illinois, in the midwestern section of the united states. But as development here expands outward, it must compete with active farming communities on the edges of this metropolitan area. In north American Cities like chicago, automobiles, extensive highway systems and Communication Networks have accelerated suburban sprawl and made possible a new kind of urban area. Edge cities are fullfledged employment subcenters far from the central city. But there may be a cost to such rapid Land Use Change farmland loss. Productive farmland becomes a nonrenewable resource, lost forever, when it is used for housing, commercial or industrial development. And the pace at which americas most productive farmland is being lost has alarmed some geographers. Were standing on the new edge of chicagos suburban frontier. Behind me is a farm that will be gone in five years literally wiped out. Were seeing the black dirt that took thousands of years to develop. What will be in its place is suburban development. Narrator but its not nostalgia for days gone by that concerns geographer Richard Greene. At Northern Illinois university, hes studying Development Patterns around the chicago metropolitan area, and what worries him is the science and economics of whats being lost. Green the soil that is being removed here took 10,000 years to create. And in just a matter of a few weeks, this soil will be gone and in i place will be new deen anthisthe best soil inf a few the world foproducing crops. Ne narrator and if you dont believe it, ask a local farmer. Man yeah, when i put that driveway in, i had a cat come in here, and he took black dirt out of here at was easil18hes to two feet deep before he hit gravel. Now, w hits gravel, that means that its. T only is it good dirt, t itwhh is what you want. Good soil with good drainage is what grows crops. You also have to have the climate; you also have to have the rainfall; you have to have the infrastructure. So it has everything going for it, this area does. Itverythg going r. Narror so itan intense competition bufor the land has been raging. To see how the pressure developed, we head downtown to the center of chicago. The tallest building in north america the sears tower rises over Downtown Chicago. It is the trademark of this citys skyline and a symbol of urban americas vitality. But in 1992, sears fled its downtown home and moved 5,000 employees here 30 miles outside the city, into the cornfields. Working farm communities surround the chicago area, but to many, this farmland is better suited for growing something other than corn. Usesses relocate, so can theirmployees, like micelwirg bwn now they have what theyve always wanted a house in the country. Brows basalarmiomu its a rural community. Its just. Its a feelgood kind of place to live. Come in this route and. Narrator just down the road, tim edmonds is building a whole new community for people like margot brown. Soon his efforts will transform this farmland into Corporate Office parks, a golf course and 4,600 new homes. This is, indeed, an edge city. As you look at suburbanization of america and following transportation corridors, both north and south whatever the Geographic Area happens to be it is, uh, an example of that. People here are commuting within the 25to30mile radius. Um, youre not going to see too much migration into the city, but they are currently working with about a 25mile radii, and theyre looking for value and looking for, uh, lifestyle. The development is really creating a whole, new town. Uh, we will have up to 5,000 residential units, roughly 400 acres of commercial office areas. We have various retail components, golf courses, school sites. So youre going to see all the elements that you would see in most hometowns. Uh, they will all be in one development. Narrator one Development Building over 2,600 acres of prime farmland. Is putti the pssure on farmers like john pihl. Mo andore depe e anxious buy theirand. Pihl sobody is offering y on fan amoofeye john pihl. Ry, mo andore depe e aphysical lifeslerand. Pihl and you could take the money on fan amand go fishinghl. And forget about the chores and the water and the droughts and everytng else, t theyre also buying your lifestyle. Theyre buying your community. Theyre changing everything that you hold dear, and, uh, thats. Thats a very tough decision. Narrator a decision prompted by a new trend in this region. Herehe geography ofmericas past is undergoing a postindustrial transformation, away from its agriculture and even its urban roots. Metropolitan chicago is being reformed, and its new edges are reaching out further and further into the surrounding farmland. Greene this community is very typical of the suburban fringe of chicago. We are about 45 miles from Downtown ChicagoDowntown Chicago being the largest employment center. Historically, then, that. That was the core. That was where people traveled to work. The metropolitan area has since evolved and you have subcenters now employment subcenters. And were about twohours commute from Downtown Chicago, whereas to the subcenters, were as few as 15 minutes away from those subcenters. Atoreenesey owing su caededgeik are alcaclose tajs anoreenesey owing su caededgeik firstin these once purely residential subcenters. Then businesses themselves followed their employees to this suburban fringe. In the information age, with the growth of whitecollar service and hightech industries, companies no longer need the Central Business district to prosper. And thanks to the widespread reliance here as in the rest of america on the automobile, commuters who work in these subcenters can now move even farther away from downtown commuters like margot brown. Each day, margot takes just 20 minutes to drive from her home in Mchenry County through the rural countryside and east along interstate 90 to her job at the Corporate Headquarters of motorola. This Electronics Giant left the high taxes and congestion of Downtown Chicago in the early 1980s to come to the edge city of schaumburg. Since then, many other businesses have followed motorola to the edge. Geographer Richard Greene looks for patterns in both space and sequence. In the last five years housing, Residential Development has come right up against this western road randall road. And typical of this type of development, whats followed is retail. Up and down randall road for miles is strip mall after strip mall. And this is the latest example. Where a new store has come in, you see this wide, expansive parking lot. This was once all farmland, and now whats in its place is this new shopping development. Narrator and local governments are hardpressed to try and control the pace of change. Man somebody woke up that route 47 and 90 tied together. I mean, people have been going through here toakgeneva for yrs, d theyre rut and st ohere. Itd rmerout e naator m eds develntle out 12,0esidn thaso sell so you ho havee. In a town where mayor ed banks currently serves a population of 2,098. Some like it and some of them dont. Bui cant help it. It the. At am going do, tetoo ay . Ab istake t work herowt ts and a developer like pri, ab istake t whos going to take it over . Were still going to have the traffic up and down 47. Theyre not going to move 47 for you people here in huntley. Its going tbe there. You bless with it. Theyre not going to move 47 for you people here in huntley. As we dour demogrhi studies anmarketrofiles, we see that the buyers in the greater midwest, they seek going back to their roots, back to a hometown, and we can do that here, because we own so much land and we control the land use here. Have you made any progress at all on talking to this farmer about getting that . Yeah, theres a little resistance. Really, what is the resistance . Uh, six generations have lived there over the years and i think theres resistance at moving at this juncture. Is he trying to hold you for more money, or does he just really want to. I wish i could figure that out. I think theyre tied to the land. Theyve been out here for generations. The likelihood of more money i dont think is a real consideration. I think hes just in love witht old farm. Narrator individual holdouts cant compete with the constant pressure for development. Richard greene charts the rapidly changing land use to investigate developments impact on the areas prime farmland. The Geographic Information system haslloweds for instance, were able to take developmt patterns as one ler in e gis, kenfmation from t Soil Conservation seice on soil qualit overthose twod to realld is being cvertedto urban la. At grnes gis produp overthose twod to realld highlighting in red productive farm communities which are most threatened by encroaching development. Greene has also created a national map of the u. S. , showing the areas that are most susceptible to farmland loss. He finds that denselypopulated farming regions, like those in california a