Millennium City: Richard M. Daley & Global Chicago

New Global Economy

Chicago has been a key player in the global economy for most of its history. From the late 1800s, it had been a center for manufacturing and distributing goods throughout the United States and the world. But by the late 1980s, the number of manufacturing jobs declined, and the city's status as a distribution center was put into question.

Reminders of Chicago’s rich industrial legacy:

While labor-saving technologies contributed to much of the decline, global competition played an important role. Some employers relocated to places where labor was cheaper. The economies in other countries, particularly in East Asia and in what would eventually become the European Union, grew stronger. 

Two documents illustrate the importance of European and East Asian markets by the 1980s:
Those changes offered opportunities for trade and newer approaches to investment. But they also undermined the United States'--and Chicago's--reliance on manufacturing. The question was now whether Chicago could adapt to these changes.
John McCarron, an urban planning expert, discusses the challenges globalization posed for Chicago:

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