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I'm a Chicagoan and spend a lot of time in Bay Area.
It's San Francisco, the density and small land area greatly help as well as the immense tourism and beautiful scenery.
Chicago is no slouch it's in the top 4 for pedestrian traffic, but San Francisco is just higher on the list.
And what is with everyones new craze for Chicago and San Francisco these days? Everyday someone makes like 12 threads for each one.
I know you're always trying to be amiable, but sometimes you just sound like you have an inferiority complex. Chicago has 2.8 million people, SF has 800,000. Obviously Chicago has more people out on the streets at any given moment than SF does. Perhaps if we were talking about most people on the street per square mile, then SF would win.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 15,934,312 times
Reputation: 4047
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjacobeclark
I know you're always trying to be amiable, but sometimes you just sound like you have an inferiority complex. Chicago has 2.8 million people, SF has 800,000. Obviously Chicago has more people out on the streets at any given moment than SF does. Perhaps if we were talking about most people on the street per square mile, then SF would win.
I'm talking about the amount of people walking around in the urban core of a city, the CBD, downtown, whatever it is that you would like to call it. San Francisco has a large amount of commuters daily from other parts of the Bay Area. I know Chicago does from it's suburbs as well, but I hardly doubt to the same extent.
San Francisco also reels in more tourists, they can be there at any given date, it's not summer. You're bound to see it get packed.
The density of the city as a whole really adds on to the image, you have a compact area, that means you have more walkers. Chicago is what? 200+ square miles. San Francisco is 48, and a large portion of it is surrounded by the business district of the city.
Normally when you talk about pedestrians, you're not talking about like 14 people at some park in some neighborhood of the city with their dogs and children, you're talking more in depth about people actually walking around in the core of the city, IMHO. And I know 2.8 million people don't live in downtown Chicago.
Inferiority complex? Hardly, stating that one city has something over another does not make it an "inferiority complex". I don't even understand the logic behind that, I don't even live in San Francisco, so why would giving it the props over the city that I actually do live in give me an IC problem? I don't know maybe I'm one of those crazy few people who actually like giving other cities the edge over mine in certain things, or perhaps I'm actually one of those people that really don't have that strong homer connection with my city...don't know, but I guess I just don't care to know either.
Well whatever, if you want to think I've got an inferiority complex, then cool. Won't really prevent me from posting the way I do.
^ You can expect more of those overseas travelers to stay in the downtown locations of both cities. I really don't see why anyone would not be staying and touring near downtown Chicago = pedestrians in the city. I know for a fact those people go through downtown San Francisco, if you're visiting the Bay Area, that's probably a must for tourists = pedestrians in the city.
^ History of tourism. Tourists = part time pedestrians to designated city. Both cities are listed along with DC and NYC.
Visitors and tourists = more pedestrians for the cities.
Pedestrian commuters from other cities on daily basis = more pedestrians to the city
Smaller area to walk in = more accessible for pedestrians to walk in the city
Chicago's great, but San Francisco does a bit better, IMHO.
Anyways I'm out, going to watch again how the Lakers pwned Celtics over again. Cant get enough of the Lakers.
Being that SF is the 2nd densest city in the country only behind NY and Chicago's the 5th (which is a huge difference in terms of density), It's probably safe to say that SF has more people walking around in any part of the city at any given time than Chicago. And that's not even counting the gigantic amount of tourists...
This is a weird thread btw... what's the point?
EDIT: Obviously Chicago has more people than SF, but you're less likely to find an empty street in SF than you are in Chicago.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 15,934,312 times
Reputation: 4047
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nineties Flava
Being that SF is the 2nd densest city in the country only behind NY and Chicago's the 5th (which is a huge difference in terms of density), It's probably safe to say that SF has more people walking around in any part of the city at any given time than Chicago. And that's not even counting the gigantic amount of tourists...
This is a weird thread btw... what's the point?
EDIT: Obviously Chicago has more people than SF, but you're less likely to find an empty street in SF than you are in Chicago.
Density helps, but it's not the main component. San Francisco's size as a city helps a lot. 48 square miles of urban and dense places versus Chicago's 227 square miles of more open and spaced out places (outside of downtown of course), it just sets them apart in pedestrian traffic.
San Francisco is well connected, it's not as open and spaced out like Chicago outside of downtown. That really builds to it's density and pedestrian traffic.
Chicago's downtown can probably speak for itself, but it's the other parts of the city outside of downtown that's holding it back for density and pedestrian friendliness, IMHO.
That's why I've been saying San Francisco > Chicago on pedestrian traffic, because it's limited to simply downtown.
I could hardly see the OP care for some guy in some neighborhood miles from downtown walking his dog count as "pedestrian". Very vague topic, there needs to be more clarity with the OP.
Being that SF is the 2nd densest city in the country only behind NY and Chicago's the 5th (which is a huge difference in terms of density), It's probably safe to say that SF has more people walking around in any part of the city at any given time than Chicago. And that's not even counting the gigantic amount of tourists...
This is a weird thread btw... what's the point?
EDIT: Obviously Chicago has more people than SF, but you're less likely to find an empty street in SF than you are in Chicago.
Hrrm...I wouldn't go by that...Chicago has pretty dense areas... I lived in Rogers Park for awhile and it is the northernmost neighborhood, its density is 35,000 people... while SF as a whole is 16-17,000...
See what I did there. Plus you could pull off the same statistical ups and down using inner ring areas like Oak Park or Daly City...
Statistically SF is denser overall due to its strict height limitations and unification...but there are other variables. Chicago will peak higher but also have lower valleys of population density. This has been done in detail before. This has to do in a large part due to Chicago having very high skyscraper mixed residential buildings.
Anyway I don't think SF downtown is any busier or more people on the streets than the Loop/Downtown... and definitely not May-September... BUT SF in my experience, the neighborhoods have quite a bit more people on average out on the streets compared to Chicago neighborhoods...Chicago certainly has no answer for SF Chinatown, Chicago Chinatown is pretty weak in comparison. <--just an example.
Hrrm...I wouldn't go by that...Chicago has pretty dense areas... I lived in Rogers Park for awhile and it is the northernmost neighborhood, its density is 35,000 people... while SF as a whole is 16-17,000...
See what I did there. Plus you could pull off the same statistical ups and down using inner ring areas like Oak Park or Daly City...
Statistically SF is denser overall due to its strict height limitations and unification...but there are other variables. Chicago will peak higher but also have lower valleys of population density. This has been done in detail before. This has to do in a large part due to Chicago having very high skyscraper mixed residential buildings.
Anyway I don't think SF downtown is any busier or more people on the streets than the Loop/Downtown... and definitely not May-September... BUT SF in my experience, the neighborhoods have quite a bit more people on average out on the streets compared to Chicago neighborhoods...Chicago certainly has no answer for SF Chinatown, Chicago Chinatown is pretty weak in comparison. <--just an example.
That's because SF is much denser... that's exactly what I meant. In SF, you have to give an arm and a leg for houses that have lawns and space in between each other. On any given residential block in SF there's upwards of 1,000 people... this is not true in Chicago.
And nobody counts DC or SSF as part of san francisco because they're not even in the same county (SF county vs San Mateo County).
That's because SF is much denser... that's exactly what I meant. In SF, you have to give an arm and a leg for houses that have lawns and space in between each other. On any given residential block in SF there's upwards of 1,000 people... this is not true in Chicago.
And nobody counts DC or SSF as part of san francisco because they're not even in the same county (SF county vs San Mateo County).
Yeah we are agreeing here... SF is completely built out and dense everywhere I have seen, there really aren't any low density neighborhoods or undeveloped or previously developed and now empty areas.
How would it be physically possible for San Francisco to have more people on the streets than Chicago?
That's what I've been saying.
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