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This chapter discusses the growing development of higher education vis-à-vis urban expansion. Two growing institutions—the Hull-House Social Settlement and the University of Chicago—but were established in reply to the rising demands for an educated working class within an increasingly industrialized city. The Hull-House had started out as a residential district before expanding into a “prototype” campus integrated with the city at large. The University of Chicago, in contrast, was a facility dedicated to research, by using Chicago as a laboratory for developing universal theories of urban transformation. Yet despite such distinct approaches, these two institutions have become the basis of urban life in the years to come, illustrating the fact that knowledge development is directly tied to land development.

This chapter discusses the conflicted history behind the construction of the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle (UICC). During the 1950s, Mayor Richard J. Daley opted to construct a school in an act meant to modernize the city, however, the ideal site for the new university was on Halsted Street, in an area known as the Hull-House Social Settlement—a campus representing the old neighborhood-based traditions of higher education. The dispute over the Hull-House property illustrates the tension between the old and new forms of pedagogical projects, as well as the pressing need for the mass production of higher education that can keep pace with the city’s progress. Despite protests, however, the UICC was eventually installed over Hull-House land, albeit the original Hull House itself remains intact, now integrated into the UI campus.

This chapter discusses the role of higher education in the form of two institutions—the Hull-House Social Settlement and the University of Chicago—in the study of urban development. The Hull-House was the site of many urban research projects conducted by its residents—most notably, the Hull-House Maps and Papers—an exhaustive compilation of data regarding the settlement’s day-to-day activities of life within the ward, as well as the geographic visualizations of various American immigrant groups. It had also become the springboard for social activism and reform, especially for women and children. The University of Chicago would later codify these efforts into a field of scientific study. Circumstances have allowed for the field of sociology to blossom within the city’s urban landscape, due to the recent emphasis of research-based knowledge production, as well as the growing demand for professionals who can further oil the gears of industrialization.