super / larger neighborhoods in Chicago (Lincoln, Manhattan: design, suburbs, park)

[anna_b]

Hi.

I am not from around Chicago, but i am doing a research on this city and i was wondering if Chicago has something similar to the boroughs in NYC, although such a comparison might be a bit far fetched.
This however means that am am interested in knowing if there is a local understanding of some larger areas in the city which incorporate neighborhoods.
e.g. Manhattan is a borough which incorporates neighborhoods such as Harlem, West Village, Chinatown, etc, to say it in a simplistic manner.

Thx in advance

[knitgirl]

not other than downtown, northside, southside, westside.

[Jandur]

^ pretty much what Knitgirl said.

Chicago has something like 77 officially designated community areas that are generally lumped together based on their location.

[It'sAutomatic]

There are the different sides of the city. Some people divide them into north, west, and south sides, but I feel that to differentiate the city based on characteristics other than arbitrary geographic features would require a few more "sides". Regardless, the fact that these large zones are mostly based on their direction from downtown makes them more homogenous in terms of economic status and ethnicity than the boroughs of New York.

[richrf]

You can probably make some general, unofficial distinctions, such as Loop area, Near North, Lincoln Park, Far North, Near West, Far West, South Loop, South, Far South, South West, Near West, Far West, but these are all quite unofficial though people will have a general idea of what you are talking about.

[SmartGXL]

To add to what others have said, Chicago doesn't use a borough system, like what is used over on the East Coast.

But if you wanted to try to break it down, there are four "Sides" to the city, in addition to "The Loop", which is the downtown area of the city.

Like Knitgirl said, there are 77 officially defined neighborhoods, and all of them fit within one of these four Sides: North Side, South Side, West Side, and Northwest Side.

From there, the official neighborhoods usually have smaller sections known as "pockets", but these are unofficial and do not have specific boundaries. For example, Lakeview (which does have specific, defined boundaries) is often times further broken down into smaller neighborhoods, such as Lakeview East, Boystown, Wrigleyville, Southport Corridor, Clybourn Corridor, and Hamlin Park. Same thing with the West Town neighborhood, it is broken down into Bucktown, Wicker Park, Humboldt Park, Logan Square, etc.

[williepotatoes]

There is no neat, tidy and officially sanctioned way that Chicagoans describe their territory. It can be broad (south side, north side, downtown etc.). Or it can be more specific (Lakeview, Horner Park, 47th and Kedzie etc.)

None of these are wrong.

[mayhem_223]

All answers here are good

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by SmartGXL

Same thing with the West Town neighborhood, it is broken down into Bucktown, Wicker Park, Humboldt Park, Logan Square, etc.

You're absolutely right in describing the general concept, but Logan Square is one of the defined Community areas, and Bucktown is part of Logan Square, not West Town.

Logan Square is a good example of how arbitrary the neighborhood definitions can seem. It has a few neighborhoods within it (i.e. Bucktown, Palmer Square) but much of it isn't divided into neighborhoods. If you're in SE Logan Square you're closer to Wicker Park or Humboldt Park than to the actual Square of Logan Square, but your neighborhood is still Logan Square. People sometimes lump the area in with Humboldt and realtors frequently try to pass it off as "West Bucktown". Always be dubious of realtors descriptions of neighborhood boundaries.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by richrf

You can probably make some general, unofficial distinctions, such as Loop area, Near North, Lincoln Park, Far North, Near West, Far West, South Loop, South, Far South, South West, Near West, Far West, but these are all quite unofficial though people will have a general idea of what you are talking about.

Ha. I love how you include two random actual neighborhoods (Lincoln Park and South Loop) amidst all your larger directional designations.

To the OP:

I agree with others who are saying that the basic larger areas are North Side, South Side, West Side, and Downtown. However, unlike NYC's boroughs, which have officially designated boundaries, these larger areas for Chicago are very fuzzy around the edges. For example, some would say Gold Coast is downtown and some would say it's North Side, some would say South Loop is downtown and some would say it's South Side. Some would say Pilsen is South Side and some would say it's West Side. Some would say Wicker Park and Logan Square are West Side and some would say they're North Side, etc. etc.

And then when you're talking to suburbanites the definitions get even weirder, i.e. the South Suburbs may be "South Side," North Suburbs might be "North Side", and the entire actual city might be "downtown." Most city-dwellers, myself included, will tell you that this is flat-out wrong, but the fact remains that the terms are sometimes used this way. So keep all of this in mind when you hear those four categories thrown around.