Perspective
What One Chicago Magazine Reveals About Gentrification
North is an expensively produced lifestyle magazine along the lines of Kinfolk or Monocle. Except it’s published by a Chicago real-estate developer.
When you leaf through the thick matte pages of North magazine, you’ll discover beautifully photographed and carefully curated scenes of 21st-century urban life. The opening pages of the third and most recent issue set the mood: A woman in a hijab crosses in front of a jazz-themed mural. A tamale vendor flashes a smile. A low-rider bike leans against a street sign.
North, which launched in 2016, may seem like another Kinfolk or Monocle, seeking the same kind of jet-setting, high-income global readership so it can serve them ads for Shinola watches and Land Rovers. But the reality is stranger: North is actually published in Chicago by FLATS, a local real-estate company, and distributed for free via stores, restaurants, and cultural centers.