Dead Zone on the Map: Chicago’s NWFZ

In 1979, the Office of Technology Assessment blew up Detroit, modeling a nuclear detonation in the built environment. Based on these findings, the Reagan administration proposed a $4.3 billion nationwide civil defense program, calling for mass evacuations and shelter construction. Refusing to participate in futile doomsday preparations, cities responded by establishing Nuclear Weapons Free Zones. NWFZs prohibited the production and delivery of nuclear components within city limits. NWFZs were formalized through referenda, petition initiatives, and city council zoning ordinances. NWFZs effectively demapped cities from the national nuclear landscape as advocates preferred dead zones to dead populations. This paper considers Chicago’s NWFZ, enacted by a change to the Municipal Code in 1986. While not the United States’ first NWFZ, Chicago’s designation was symbolically significant because of the Manhattan Project’s early institutional housing at the University of Chicago. Beyond symbolic resonance, Chicago’s NWFZ engaged practically with local places. Thirty signs, created in accordance with federal design standards, were installed in “high visibility” locations around the city, including at airports, high-volume roadways, and City Hall. Annual NWFZ arts festivals were held amidst major public sculptures and landmarks, lending visible, sonic, and dynamic form and civic significance to the designation. Examining the contested relationship between local and national authorities to provide a common defense while promoting citizen welfare, this paper addresses both the visual culture of Chicago’s NWFZ and the spatial marking of a citywide site of exclusion.