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What Philly has in a relatively confined area of Center City is what Chicago has across a pretty long/fairly wide swath up and down Lake Michigan with a few nodes jutting more inland.
What Philly has in Center City is really only found in Manhattan, imo. I don't equate any area with tall residential buildings to walkable, mixed-use and human scale.
The issue with Center City, as you pointed out, is scale. It's just not very big. However, I can't think of any other place in America built at that density and scale. That's my ideal urban living arrrangement outside of NoLita and the Village (for U.S. cities anyway).
There's not that much to walk to? In Lincoln Park? Literally adjacent to the park itself and the conservatory and the zoo and the lakefront?
Are you on dope or something?
What was there to walk to in the link I posted? I posted that specific link because I know someone who lives there.
Then again, my standard for walkability may be different. If I'm living in a highrise neighborhood, I expect to have tons of storefronts and restaurants at the bottom of my building and across the street (and the next street over). And even some on side streets.
What was there to walk to in the link I posted? I posted that specific link because I know someone who lives there.
Then again, my standard for walkability may be different. If I'm living in a highrise neighborhood, I expect to have tons of storefronts and restaurants at the bottom of my building and across the street (and the next street over). And even some on side streets.
There seems to be some street level establishments in the next few blocks of your first link. I think it might be more that the street is immediately adjacent to their big park? It seems like it might be like how Central Park West itself doesn't really have street level retail either, but there is plenty close by.
I also tried a quick yelp search on that address just to check, and it does look like there's plenty going on around that area, just not along the park itself.
What was there to walk to in the link I posted? I posted that specific link because I know someone who lives there.
Well, let's start with the park, the zoo, the conservatory, the Lincoln Park Cultural Center, the lakefront, the Chicago Historical Society, Park West theater, Old Town, the shops and restaurants on Clark Street and Lincoln Avenue... so not much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BajanYankee
Then again, my standard for walkability may be different. If I'm living in a highrise neighborhood, I expect to have tons of storefronts and restaurants at the bottom of my building and across the street (and the next street over). And even some on side streets.
So basically, the neighborhood doesn't meet your standard for walkability because you actually have to, you know, walk to stuff instead of having it right at the bottom of your building. Makes sense I guess.
There seems to be some street level establishments in the next few blocks of your first link. I think it might be more that the street is immediately adjacent to their big park? It seems like it might be like how Central Park West itself doesn't really have street level retail either, but there is plenty close by.
That's more or less what I mean. I was actually thinking the Upper East Side, but the idea is that highrise living in and of itself doesn't mean lots of vibrancy. A neighborhood with highrises can feel relatively sleepy at street level.
I prefer Center City's highrise area because there tends to be more street retail...even if the size of that area is not very large.
So basically, the neighborhood doesn't meet your standard for walkability because you actually have to, you know, walk to stuff instead of having it right at the bottom of your building. Makes sense I guess.
It's not that I don't find it walkable. I just don't find it as walkable. My preference (and I already stated it is my preference) is to have street level retail on a more three dimensional basis (meaning that side streets have some commercial too). Chicago and DC seem similar insofar as their zoning is concerned; it seems like the intent was to keep the residential and commerical at a fairly healthy distance from the other (to a greater extent than was the case in New York and Philadelphia).
It's not that I don't find it walkable. I just don't find it as walkable. My preference (and I already stated it is my preference) is to have street level retail on a more three dimensional basis (meaning that side streets have some commercial too). Chicago and DC seem similar insofar as their zoning is concerned; it seems like the intent was to keep the residential and commerical at a fairly healthy distance from the other (to a greater extent than was the case in New York and Philadelphia).
That's fine and all that you have preferences, but to say "there's not much to walk to" from the corner of Clark and Armitage in Lincoln Park is just... well, "wrong" is the most charitable way to describe that claim.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OyCrumbler
Does Chicago have a lot of vertical shopping/retail/dining complexes like in East Asian cities?
There are a couple on the Mag Mile. Otherwise... no.
That's fine and all that you have preferences, but to say "there's not much to walk to" from the corner of Clark and Armitage in Lincoln Park is just... well, "wrong" is the most charitable way to describe that claim.
I wasn't talking about parks and museums. I was talking about businesses. Chicago, like DC, seems to have a lot buildings without much commercial on the ground level.
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