I was originally interested in mapping cancer rates in Chicago as they relate to prevailing wind patterns and nuclear sites throughout the city/suburbs. The hypothesis of this idea is pretty obvious and would, I think, be quite interesting, but since the superimposition of those three sets of data would probably end in enormous law suits I’m finding that much of this data is not published in any sort of publicly accessible format or at the scale that would be helpful.
Instead, I would like to look at another form of Chicago-Creepiness which is corporate crime. The data.cityofchicago.com website lists recent corporate/fraud-related arrests and offenses, and I would like to parlay that information with adjacent income levels (either adjacent to the foreclosed business or the particular owner’s residence…or both). The general hypothesis is that now that the era of Gordon Gecko is supposedly over, it might be interesting to see where corporate crime is committed today in Chicago. Is it still in the hierarchical, upper-tier world of finance and speculation, or is it more common among the manufacturing and private-industrial sector. My guess is that it’s the latter, which would, indeed, be a reversal from the bull-market of 30 years ago.
If anyone is interested in delving into the creepy, seedy, corporate underworld with me for the rest of the semester, let me know! 🙂
IIT COA | Urban Information Modeling 