How does Downtown Chicago Compare to Manhattan, NYC (Time: place, towns)

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by thefallensrvnge

I've been to Tokyo, and there were moments where it even puts NYC to shame. I-n-s-a-n-e. Asian cities are just incredible for nightlife and urban culture. They seem to make use of every square inch.

Yeah, there's parts of Istanbul like that too. Istiklal Caddesi for example can average 3 million visitors per day whereas Times Square is about 360,000 per day. I've been on Istiklal when it's super busy and it puts areas in NYC to shame. I've been on the street at 2am before and it's still as busy, though I've been on it once at 4am and it had died down a bit - though last time I was on it at 4am it was like a Wednesday night. Some of the other streets that aren't nearly as well known as it too can be really busy. It's kind of insane - when I went there the first time and came back to the US, I was wondering where all the people went lol

http://i.imgur.com/HYDKx.jpg

[Nafster]

Chicago and New York are two different cities.

I agree that, if you really squint, you could feel like you're in parts of Midtown in the Loop.

Chicago is slower and smaller, and has half of New York's density (and you'll notice it). Chicago is still a very dense and urban city, and has 2.7 million people. The closer to The Loop you get, generally the faster paced the city is.

[rzzz]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Haven't been there - I'm going to have to check it out next time in NYC. Thanks for the tip. There are certainly other busy intersections elsewhere like some in DC, Chicago, LA, etc but on average yeah - Manhattan is huge, dense, etc. There's nothing else like it in America. I've only been to one city in the world that had NYC like activity and that was Istanbul. Though I have not been to the largest cities of China yet or Tokyo. Rome had some parts with short bursts of NYC-like street traffic too. Certainly there's been times in Chicago that have been very, very busy BUT on average yeah - not much else like it in the US.

To be clear, I was never trying to say Chicago is like NYC. It really isn't - minus the fact that both have a bunch of tall buildings (Manhattan obvious more). The thing is that downtown Chicago may be the 1st or 2nd most Manhattanish place in the US outside of NYC, but that doesn't mean it's like Manhattan. Really nothing else like it here.

Tokyo is really big, like 249 square miles. It's very dense throughout but the buildings aren't as tall as in Manhattan.

Chicago is not really like NYC other than they are both big american cities with skyscrapers.

[justalicious6989]

Originally Posted by rzzz

Tokyo is really big, like 249 square miles. It's very dense throughout but the buildings aren't as tall as in Manhattan.

Chicago is not really like NYC other than they are both big american cities with skyscrapers.

Well, we actually had a thread about night life etc. Chicago ranks around number 2 in most of the categories right behind NYC. The thing about Chicago is, you have many many many housing options. The neighborhoods farther out resemble quieter communites yet all have the feel of the City. I love it! I visited NYC, but Chicago has my heart.

[NOLA101]

Chicago has a great downtown, but it isn't similar to NYC's core. They're two completely different cities.

[NOLA101]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yeah, there's parts of Istanbul like that too. Istiklal Caddesi for example can average 3 million visitors per day whereas Times Square is about 360,000 per day. I've been on Istiklal when it's super busy and it puts areas in NYC to shame.

I have been on Istikal Caddesi and there is no way in hell it has more pedestrians than Times Square.

10 times as much is obviously completely impossible as there is no room to move in Times Square.

Istikal Caddesi's closest Manhatttan equivalent would be 34th Street or 5th Ave, but I still think those NYC streets have significantly higher pedestrian traffic.

Busiest intersection in Manhattan is actually 7th Ave. & 34th Street, largely because of Penn Station.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

I have been on Istikal Caddesi and there is no way in hell it has more pedestrians than Times Square.

10 times as much is obviously completely impossible as there is no room to move in Times Square.

Istikal Caddesi's closest Manhatttan equivalent would be 34th Street or 5th Ave, but I still think those NYC streets have significantly higher pedestrian traffic.

Busiest intersection in Manhattan is actually 7th Ave. & 34th Street, largely because of Penn Station.

It does - I've been to Times Square multiple times (not my cup of tea) and Istiklal a bunch of times too and you'd be surprised at how many people are out on Istiklal and how it can feel Times Square-ish, but thankfully it's less kitschy than Times Square.


I think the 360,000 number is a bit low. I have heard that Times Square can get near 1.5-2 million visitors per day at its height instead of 360,000. I have been on Istiklal though and it's 2 miles of pure pedestrian street. The city is mainly working class and the culture is different so you have more people out. I mention culture in this because it can make a difference. For example, when you go to a shop to purchase something not so cheap, let's say a lamp that costs $300, the shopkeeper will converse with you about politics and whatever else. Bartering is expected in Turkey, so while you're conversing about other things, they will offer you tea. So some streets if you just sit and watch for a few hours, you will see boys about 13-17 years old running from shop to shop with tea service every few minutes. If you have a picture in mind of how parts of India can be where people are everywhere all the time - parts of Istanbul can be just like that in my personal experience. When I came back to the US, I was honestly surprised at the difference and wondering why people weren't out. The first time I went was in late February, but Istanbul was in the middle of a cold snap where it was 20 degrees below average and about the same temp as Chicago. Way more people on the streets there regardless than Chicago.

There's three things that people don't realize about Istanbul.
1) It's the second largest city proper in the world (I'm not talking about metro areas - I'm talking about the city itself). Officially, the population is 13.5 million, but due to some things, the real population is somewhere between 16 and 20 million people. There are many undocumented citizens in Istanbul from countries like Uzbekistan as well as many residents registering at the census in their small hometowns so they can get more government funding.

2) It's the 3rd most visited city in Europe after Paris and London.

3) It's very, very dense in parts for millions of people. In fact, there's parts that are much denser than Manhattan without all the skyscrapers. They do have a number of high rises, but most buildings in Istanbul are below about 7 floors. Here's some areas of Istanbul:

* GÜNGÖREN | 307,573 people | 2.77 sq miles | 111,103.3/sq mi
* GAZİOSMANPAŞA | 488,258 people | 4.51 sq miles | 108,335.2/sq mi
* BAHÇELİEVLER | 600,162 people | 6.4 sq miles | 93,830.6/sq mi
* BAĞCILAR | 749,024 people | 8.65 sq miles | 86,605.5/sq mi
* TOTAL | 2,145,017 people | 22.33 sq mi | 96,059.9/sq mi

By contrast, Manhattan has a population of 1,626,159 over 22.96 sq mi for a density of 70,825.6/sq mi. This area of Istanbul is not only 0.63 sq mi smaller than all of Manhattan, but it has over 500,000 more people than Manhattan jammed into it in that area. The buildings in these areas are not skyscrapers or even close to it either. Most of them are under 7 stories tall. Account for all the undocumented people in Istanbul and it's actually denser than what's being shown above.

[FAReastcoast]

Originally Posted by marothisu

* GÜNGÖREN | 307,573 people | 2.77 sq miles | 111,103.3/sq mi
* GAZİOSMANPAŞA | 488,258 people | 4.51 sq miles | 108,335.2/sq mi
* BAHÇELİEVLER | 600,162 people | 6.4 sq miles | 93,830.6/sq mi
* BAĞCILAR | 749,024 people | 8.65 sq miles | 86,605.5/sq mi
* TOTAL | 2,145,017 people | 22.33 sq mi | 96,059.9/sq mi

By contrast, Manhattan has a population of 1,626,159 over 22.96 sq mi for a density of 70,825.6/sq mi. This area of Istanbul is not only 0.63 sq mi smaller than all of Manhattan, but it has over 500,000 more people than Manhattan jammed into it in that area. The buildings in these areas are not skyscrapers or even close to it either. Most of them are under 7 stories tall. Account for all the undocumented people in Istanbul and it's actually denser than what's being shown above.

Not sure with Istanbul, but residential population is useless with Manhattan when trying to determine it's density, as there is literally no part of the day where Manhattan is occupied by residents only (as I am sure is the case with Istanbul). For all intents and purposes, Manhattan is a city of 3 million people.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by FAReastcoast

Not sure with Istanbul, but residential population is useless with Manhattan when trying to determine it's density, as there is literally no part of the day where Manhattan is occupied by residents only (as I am sure is the case with Istanbul). For all intents and purposes, Manhattan is a city of 3 million people.

Yep, totally. Istanbul in these areas is the same way. There's a lot of different districts in the densest areas - some business districts (in a few I didn't mention, but are just as dense overall as Manhattan), shopping districts, tourist areas, etc. I really had no idea how dense and big of a city it was until I went for the first time.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3188/2...5d5244af_o.jpg

I have a few friends who lived there for a few years and told me a lot of stuff. The undocumented people there really put the population up. They told me of 10-20 people living in 2 bedroom apartments there. I mean almost nothing in there except people sleeping. It's a super dense city - the only reason people don't think it is, is because the statistics show the entire region of Istanbul which includes a lot of country and farm land. If people were to look at the actual weighted density they'd be surprised.

[nj21]

Having worked in Manhattan for over 6 years, I'd say that the State Street & Randolph intersections and surrounding areas seem somewhat comparable to the Manhattan streets, but not Times Square. Maybe the Herald Square (Macy's) intersection would be most comparable to Chicago streets located in the Loop section of downtown.