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I've said the exact same thing on this site countless times! Chicago should honestly have a population of ~4 million now. Chicago was built to be larger than it is. Traffic within the city is still a nightmare though, despite the improvements made by city planners years ago.
I wonder what went differently in Chicago than in New York to allow New York to grow so large in population. Maybe it's Chicago's fairly low rise method of development away from the lake.
Being the most utilized point of entry for immigrants since the early 19th century through to this very day is what propelled NYC to its current population and status.
Wall Street & Immigration entry from Europe. New York City & the Northeast established large prominence from European trade and immigration, just as the West Coast did from Asia & the Gulf Coast is now doing with Latin America. Chicago started to fall behind as more areas of the USA were discovered (the West) & more areas became hospitable to living (sunbelt).
New York City also had key industries that linked American economy with trade over the world, and that prominence kept them afloat.
This is true, I would also add geography into the mix. NYC is at more of a premium for land than Chicago. Four of the five NYC Boroughs are islands (with the Bronx the only one connected to the mainland). This allows them to become significantly more dense than Chicago, where developers can build as far west as their hearts desire. While the city of Chicago population has stabelized, the metro area is growing at a similar rate to the tri state area in New York.
] Less on the south side since that's the less dense side that developed last.
The south side was a VERY developed industrial area when my Polish great grandparents settled in it! Since the collapse of the rust belt, it's never been the same. The factories are overseas and the steel produced in steel mills isn't needed like it used to be. Hence the vacant lots and abandoned buildings.
"Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin?
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in?
Should I hate em for having our jobs today?
No, I hate the men that sent the jobs away.."
-James McMurtry
CTA has some lines that run 24/7 like NYC while Septa does not.
On another note Chicago is just a huge massive mountain compared to Philly's smaller foothill skyline. You could basically fit downtown SF, Boston, and Philly it would still be bigger. Only Manhattan can beat it in quantity.
CTA has some lines that run 24/7 like NYC while Septa does not.
On another note Chicago is just a huge massive mountain compared to Philly's smaller foothill skyline. You could basically fit downtown SF, Boston, and Philly it would still be bigger. Only Manhattan can beat it in quantity.
Just to clarify - Septa does run 24 hours and runs buses along the Subways lines in non running subway hours - but yes the subways do stop a few hours in the middle of the night. I agree Chicago is larger and the Skyline is more massive but that doesnt always translate to a more urban street scene. Houston and Miami technically have much larger skylines than philly yet I think most would find Philly to be a more urban street scene when compared to those two
Just to clarify - Septa does run 24 hours and runs buses along the Subways lines in non running subway hours - but yes the subways do stop a few hours in the middle of the night. I agree Chicago is larger and the Skyline is more massive but that doesnt always translate to a more urban street scene. Houston and Miami technically have much larger skylines than philly yet I think most would find Philly to be a more urban street scene when compared to those two
Chicago's biggest thing is the urban fabric outward from downtown, it has holes in the fabric. But there are very urban areas with street vibrancy 10 miles out from downtown as well.
as you can see there is area in between downtown then obviously this is shot from bigger development again. You can also see the tree lined streets. and that is just the downtown part of the skyline you can see built up.
the full skyline is all the way down the lake over 10 miles of high rises into evanston
for instance scenes like this is 10 miles north of downtown
Chicago's biggest thing is the urban fabric outward from downtown, it has holes in the fabric. But there are very urban areas with street vibrancy 10 miles out from downtown as well.
as you can see there is area in between downtown then obviously this is shot from bigger development again. You can also see the tree lined streets. and that is just the downtown part of the skyline you can see built up.
the full skyline is all the way down the lake over 10 miles of high rises into evanston
We are in agreement - I voted Chicago - though I do believe an argument can be made for the core of Philly to second in terms of street level after NYC - but overall Chicago is larger and has more urban neighborhoods. But overall they are mostly both just pretty urban throughout - so much of this could come down to the particular neighborhoods or set of neighborhoods where there is great urban assets in both.
For the record and I have stated before Chicago is my favorite skyline in the US, but I also think skyline is not the end all to street level feel, DC although to me slightly less urban overall is a city most would agree feels very urban and has no skyscrapers. And as i also stated I prefer to go out after meetings along the North Shore of Chicago and always could see myself living and being very happy in this area...
BTW - in some ways the first pic almost looks sunbeltish
We are in agreement - I voted Chicago - though I do believe an argument can be made for the core of Philly to second in terms of street level after NYC - but overall Chicago is larger and has more urban neighborhoods. But overall they are mostly both just pretty urban throughout - so much of this could come down to the particular neighborhoods or set of neighborhoods where there is great urban assets in both.
For the record and I have stated before Chicago is my favorite skyline in the US, but I also think skyline is not the end all to street level feel, DC although to me slightly less urban overall is a city most would agree feels very urban and has no skyscrapers. And as i also stated I prefer to go out after meetings along the North Shore of Chicago and always could see myself living and being very happy in this area...
BTW - in some ways the first pic almost looks sunbeltish
I think that picture is taken from somewhere by ohare. Chicago does have a lot of tree cover and those trees often are higher than the 3-4 story buildings which populate a lot of the neighborhoods.
btw just for fun this is evanston (suburbs, gasp) 14 miles north of downtown
which maybe more resembles sunbelt ... about 10k density over 8 square mile area...Actually I'm not sure if there is any 10k density over 8 mile area in any sunbelt city...maybe kind of like Miami...
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