Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
These threads suck... Stop it Chicago people, it is not a mini new york or manhattan, great city yes, but not like New York. Closer than any city in the world? Seriously? Boston and Philly feel more like mini NYC's than Chicago though, not that they are bigger than Chicago in the downtown area, but aesthetically and culturally they are more similar. Chicago is it's own style.
Chicago is more like a giant Seattle than it is like a smaller NYC. Similar layout both with nice downtown areas, Chicago's is just much bigger but the style, cleanliness, good waterfront usage, similar ferris wheel, light fixtures are somewhat similar.
Seattle downtown..
Seattle Rex
Matt McGrath
ellison1
and Downtown chicago doesn't have a bunch of elevation or curved more narrow streets like lower manhattan
Chicago does not look like this
But some areas in Boston/Philly do...
Seattle's downtown in those pictures looks so horribly "corporate America".
Quote:
Originally Posted by disposable2
Boston is just way too small, and even in its most urban sections it had a sort of "cute" and "quaint" feel to it.
Boston sells itself primarily off those traits.
Compared to New York, Boston is like a mini-city beta project.
Chicago certainly has a large downtown, but Manhattan is just so much more intense. Chicago doesn't really have long rows of midrises line the street for miles outside of the skyscraper districts. Basically, Chicago has nothing like the Flatiron District.
Chicago certainly has a large downtown, but Manhattan is just so much more intense. Chicago doesn't really have long rows of midrises line the street for miles outside of the skyscraper districts. Basically, Chicago has nothing like the Flatiron District.
Yeah it's hard to compare in just land size, especially when one has narrower streets, more people occupying them (no pun intended) and more buildings crammed in along with triple population density over a broad area.
We are talking aesthetics/culture/street grids/architecture not necessarily on paper stats or something.
Just look at the Seattle Coffee sign in that picture and look around at all the shops and their signs, it looks so dirt cheap in design. I mean the semi-urbanism/low density look is there but it's as sterile, bland, and boring as any other new urbanism looking project all throughout the United States.
Chicago is definitely not New York but Seattle is definitely not going to be mistaken for New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, or San Francisco.
Chicago certainly has a large downtown, but Manhattan is just so much more intense. Chicago doesn't really have long rows of midrises line the street for miles outside of the skyscraper districts. Basically, Chicago has nothing like the Flatiron District.
That's really the biggest difference, once you leave the skyscraper districts. Outside of downtown, Chicago is a mix of high rises, some smaller, usually brick older buildings and even some surface parking lots rather than a wall of buildings. Pieces are a bit like NYC, but it's choppy. North Side is the most built up:
South Side less so. You can see a few detached homes, and lots of high rises. You can't find detached homes that close to downtown in Boston, let alone NYC.
Of course, you wouldn't get all those high rises in Boston at the same time. You can find a few scattered areas almost like that in Manhattan, but they'd be well away from a subway station. West of the Loop, lots of new infill:
From what I read and from other posts, much of the Loop was ringed by mainly single-use industrial land that is now getting repurposed. In contrast, both Philadelphia and Boston have old residential neighborhoods adjacent to their downtowns. Old Town / Lincoln Park seem like the closest Chicago version.
==============================
In contrast, some NYC views outside the skyscraper districts:
I'd still venture to say Seattle's downtown and core are closer to Chicago than Chicago is to Manhattan. Also the layout is more similar, and cleaner. I'm pretty sure raw #'s in terms of buildings/density of inner neighborhoods/daytime population etc would also play out. I'm not saying Seattle is on Chicago's level, or near it. Seattle is not a bad city, probably 7th best downtown and area in the country. But the gap between Chicago and NYC is a bit further, similar at the least though. All 3 cities are cool.
There is a little-known bylaw on City-Data (in fact, I just made it up) that requires at least three (3)* new "NYC versus Chicago" threads must be created in the City Versus City sub-forum section each day. To qualify as a NYC versus Chicago thread, poster dementor - or any of his or her 700 alias (standard dev. of +/- 300) - must insecurely bash Chicago *at least* seven (7) times within the first five (5) pages of said thread. Likewise, at least *all* Chicago posters must exhibit "dramatic insecruity complex posting* within their first three (3) responses in the thread. If a Chicagoan or New York poster begins the "versus" thread, 10 bonus points are given to the originating poster. (This has never occurred, so this is a null set.)
* Or, the equivalent of two (2) NYC versus Chicago threads in each of the New York City or Chicago subforums and/or General US City forums. A Chicago versus New York City (ibid.) thread also counts as a fully validated and board compliant thread in the Toronto sub-forum; as 1/2 thread in *any* other US sub-forums or "-1" thread in the Los Angeles sub forum.
lol!!!! So you're saying chicago is in new york's league? Think again. Not. Even. Close. Philadelphia is much closer in size/scale to chicago than chicago is to new york, so at least be consistent there. If we're talking about scale, philadelphia is a scaled-down new york moreso than chicago is. Of course, this is my opinion based on anecdotal experience and the whole east coast vibe.
Chicago falls flat on its face compared to new york as well. Period.
lol.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
