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View Poll Results: What size does it feel like
Second largest 143 63.56%
Third largerst 58 25.78%
Fourth largest 24 10.67%
Voters: 225. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 02-02-2020, 09:03 AM
 
8,276 posts, read 11,876,944 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shirleyeve View Post
Aside from that photo, I can think of similarities
  • They're both cities built on a grid layout
  • Sprawling suburbs and flat topography
  • Both skylines dominated by tall, narrow skyscrapers
  • Both cities are intersected by a river
  • The city centre of both cities are encircled by a transit loop (a subway style system for Melbourne, elevated railway for Chicago)

Other than that I guess it's all down to aesthetic and experience of both cities.
Both also border a substantial body of water....

The Chicago METRO area will still be much larger than Houston for some time to come...
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Old 02-02-2020, 10:46 AM
 
Location: Chicago
4,745 posts, read 5,550,306 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigLake View Post
Metro land area and population, yes LA is much bigger. A sprawler of significant consequence.
Los Angeles has about 6 million more people than Chicago in a an urbanized area that is smaller than Chicago's. Tokyo's urban area is a little larger than LA's with an extra 23 million people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._by_population
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Old 02-02-2020, 11:07 AM
 
4,087 posts, read 3,222,494 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicago South Sider View Post
Los Angeles has about 6 million more people than Chicago in a an urbanized area that is smaller than Chicago's. Tokyo's urban area is a little larger than LA's with an extra 23 million people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._by_population
I often wonder as a Chicagoan. You find a need to lessen the city s much?

Most know LA city-proper hit 4-million and metro hit mega-city many years now. Metro Chicago is next closest to mega-city league. I see the thread is more on -- impression, feel, looks, and Chicago's Core pushes every button that gives this.

If it was only stats like population. Thread should have ended with your post first. Of course this thread began in 2011. But LA was already a mega-city.

I think this post recently sums up things .... it is far more then just stats. Even other cities brought in after such a long run.
Quote:
Originally Posted by japster28 View Post
They might be dishonest. I personally think everyone has their own criteria so I wouldn't be surprised about differing opinions. Also this is the Chicago sub so there certainly will be bias.

Your assertion about Los Angeles is sort of how I feel about the city. I used to think Chicago felt significantly larger than LA. My opinion began to change after several long hours spent around Griffith Park. For me, they're still neck and neck. But that probably stems from my preference for density. A dense built out city makes things seem much larger with less IMO. Also, the freeway's are totally a contributing factor. There's always a constant stream of traffic while I-94/90 tends to clear out better after peak travel times.

Some examples of this are Taipei, or Montreal. Their urban areas are dwarfed by Chicago and especially by LA. But due to their urban layout are very competitive when I try to compare "size". Of course, it's all arbitrary and up to personal preference.

Last edited by DavePa; 02-02-2020 at 11:31 AM..
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Old 02-02-2020, 11:22 AM
 
Location: Chicago
332 posts, read 523,091 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by japster28 View Post
I voted 2nd largest years ago. I would say my perspective has changed a bit. Chicago may feel about as large if not larger than Los Angeles. But perhaps in a way, LA feels more cosmopolitan. Whether that makes a city feel larger or more worldly, I'm not sure yet!

I can see where this is coming from. IMHO if you're thinking physical infrastructure Chicago seems bigger (in the core/transit/skyline/etc) but sociologically/culturally LA feels bigger/cosmopolitan. That said, LA in many areas, especially near its core and in areas such as its resurgent downtown and in areas like Koreatown make LA feel large. And Chicago does a very cosmopolitan presence, even if its not as dominant here as it is in other cities.
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Old 02-03-2020, 09:54 AM
 
403 posts, read 927,774 times
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Metro Tokyo is 38 MILLION people. And it's beyond dense. It's multi-nodal, sure, but that's where a comparison to anywhere in the states would end. Asia's a whole different ballgame from the western world.
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Old 02-03-2020, 01:09 PM
 
Location: Chicago
944 posts, read 1,203,891 times
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The thing with LA is that it feels massive but in the same way that driving through a metro area might feel massive. Because it is so medium density, it would be easy to not realize the sheer size is a single municipality. Which, incidentally, adds to the mass... even SoCal residents I've known are often unsure of the exact boundaries of the city relative to the burbs (I've met Angelinos who refuse to believe me when I say North Hollywood is in the city). There isn't a large gap in density between a lot of LA and the surrounding metro area. Chicago does have a large gap, only a small number of suburbs in Chicago flow seamlessly from city neighborhoods. And the urbanized parts of Chicago are much larger than comparable cities with clean breaks between city and suburb (ie DC).

Los Angeles feels bigger on the whole, which I suppose means it could beat Chicago out here. But in terms of what feels like a large city, Chicago would beat it. Put another way, driving from West Hollywood to Highland Park would be an immense endeavor which would show you only a fraction of LA whereas driving from Lincoln Park to Wicker Park would do no such thing. But you could also seamlessly cross from from Eagle Rock to Glendale without noticing. LA is almost too diffuse for anyone to realize the sheer size of the place.

Last edited by brodie734; 02-03-2020 at 01:20 PM..
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Old 02-03-2020, 09:10 PM
 
Location: Chicago
4,745 posts, read 5,550,306 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DavePa View Post
I often wonder as a Chicagoan. You find a need to lessen the city s much?

Most know LA city-proper hit 4-million and metro hit mega-city many years now. Metro Chicago is next closest to mega-city league. I see the thread is more on -- impression, feel, looks, and Chicago's Core pushes every button that gives this.

If it was only stats like population. Thread should have ended with your post first. Of course this thread began in 2011. But LA was already a mega-city.

I think this post recently sums up things .... it is far more then just stats. Even other cities brought in after such a long run.
If it makes you feel any better, Chicago feels significantly larger than any city in the US not named New York or LA.
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Old 02-05-2020, 08:19 PM
 
Location: Chicago
82 posts, read 94,431 times
Reputation: 230
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicago South Sider View Post
Los Angeles has about 6 million more people than Chicago in a an urbanized area that is smaller than Chicago's. Tokyo's urban area is a little larger than LA's with an extra 23 million people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._by_population
That's not right: Los Angeles puts 3.8m people in an urban area that is 469sq.mi for a density of 8,092/sq mi.

Chicago puts 2.7m people in an urban land area that is 227sq.mi for a density of 11,841/sq mi.

So Chicago proper puts 70%+ as much people in a land area that is HALF the size of LA proper.

Furthermore, "LA" is really just a big county: Los Angeles county, the most populous county, yes. LA county puts 9.8million people in a land area of over 10,500 square miles.

While Cook County is the 2nd most populous county, which puts 5.4 million people in a land area approx 2,4000 square miles. So Cook county has half the population of LA county in area that is roughly 1/5th the size.

LA feels more sprawling. Chicago feels more dense.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._United_States
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Old 02-06-2020, 04:42 AM
 
3 posts, read 2,271 times
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Hmm at the end of the day, all these posts seem to boil down to is "My city is bigger than yours!" Rather juvenile, really.
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Old 02-06-2020, 06:32 AM
 
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
4,626 posts, read 3,204,546 times
Reputation: 3896
silversp, I see you just joined city-data.com. By chance, is your name on here for the group, Silver Sun Pickups? Because that's a pretty good group!

I've never been to Los Angeles. It sounds very Chicago-esque; in terms of the various types of neighborhoods. Weather sounds way better all year round.


Chicago gets a bad reputation for crime and the political issues. So a question I would pose for all those who CHOOSE to stay: despite the negative attention, feel free to share all the POSITIVE reasons why you stay! I'd rather hear that type of commentary. I've heard plenty of the negative commentary.
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