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In Nature’s Metropolis, William Cronon makes the argument that the stories of Chicago and the Great West are lacking unless told together. And while the regions look, sound and smell different – they both represent America’s marketplace evolution and the process of abstracting commercial value from physical landscapes.
To begin, it seems to be really incredible – truly a symbol of mankind’s determination – that Chicago was able to rise out of the swampy lowlands. It had none of the natural advantages found in great cities else where around the world . . no fertile valley’s, no great harbours, no broad rivers. Instead, its creation depended solely on the force of human will”(15). Cronon, although he seems wary of using the term ‘progress’, demonstrates how humans, when faced with opportunity, will prove extremely innovative. In doing so, nature becomes, as Emerson writes the mere “double of man” (15). So while the environment does play a role, ultimately it appears, culture begets culture.
But how do humans decide in what ways to manipulate nature – to convert it from a pristine wilderness to a cultivated garden? “The ways people value the products of the soil, and decide how much it costs to get those products to market, together shape the landscape we inhabit” (50). I think Eli said it best in his post, “Yet, part of the ethos of America, especially of the past, which I am beginning to understand is the desire for commercial hegemony.” And in this sense, understanding Chicago from theories of economic geography is extremely valuable. For after all, Chicago out of all of the cities in the Midwest most effectively reshaped its land to become the ultimate gateway city to the west. (Catherine did a great job in her post discussing the importance of transportation. Both manmade, and to a lesser extent, natural.)
Nature’s Metropolis provides a strong argument in explaining not only the rise of Chicago, but also in the altering of America’s landscapes for the cultivating and trading of commodities. Whether urban or rural, these regions fundamentally reshaped the other – confusing our traditional notions between natural and artificial. “Gauged by how we feel about them, the distance we travel between city and country is measured more in the mind than on the ground” (8). Chicago proves to be an extremely effective case study – erasing the boundaries between country and city.