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Also, while Philly certainly has a few grand streets where you get that "Gotham" feel, it's just a fundamentally different city than Chicago, which I've always seen as the quintessential grand city with wide boulevards, meticulously manicured, with a sea of high-rises (perhaps even more on a per capita level than NYC).
Philly always has and will continue to be THE city for quaint, human-scaled and very organic urbanism.
Chicago has relatively few highrises compared to NYC.
NYC has roughly 7x as many highrises, so per capita, two-three times the relative proportion. NYC has highrises almost everywhere; Chicago has almost none except right in the core.
You're right that Chicago has very wide streets, though, and Philly has very narrow streets. Chicago has the widest streets of any top-tier U.S. city, and Philly has the narrowest streets.
Nope. Philly, at street level, easily matches up with all these cities. It might have the second best street level feel in the U.S.
Chicago + SF have more overall people when you include corporate jobs/tourists etc etc but Center City Philadelphias stamp sized grid is a joke so it may feel more crowded than Chi,SF.
It can take me 35- 40 minute drive to go from 24th + Chestnut to 4th + Chestnut(2 miles) due to the traffic/construction/double parking by delivery trucks.
Keep in mind summer months while Chicago + SF become tourist magnets due to their proximity to lake/ocean Philadelphia quiets dwn as the region heads to the beaches in South Jersey and Del/Md.
Here are a few older shots I took awhile back. This place really wasnt meant for cars.
Chicago + SF have more overall people when you include corporate jobs/tourists etc etc but Center City Philadelphias stamp sized grid is a joke so it may feel more crowded than Chi,SF.
It can take me 35- 40 minute drive to go from 24th + Chestnut to 4th + Chestnut(2 miles) due to the traffic/construction/double parking by delivery trucks.
Keep in mind summer months while Chicago + SF become tourist magnets due to their proximity to lake/ocean Philadelphia quiets dwn as the region heads to the beaches in South Jersey and Del/Md.
Here are a few older shots I took awhile back. This place really wasnt meant for cars.
Fair assessment on the time of year etc. I would say SF, being a huge tourist and business magnet is generally super vibrant all year round.
I will just agree to disagree. New York City is in a class of its own, followed by Chicago, then the rest.
Philadelphia is my least favorite east coast city and each street esp around center city is either kinda going, but then the next on quiet. It is quaint, that is the best word.
Yes it is narrower, but there are still lots of parking surfaces. Walked to Germantown today from Center Italian market.
The homeless population has grown, at least today. Very sad.
I will just agree to disagree. New York City is in a class of its own, followed by Chicago, then the rest.
Philadelphia is my least favorite east coast city and each street esp around center city is either kinda going, but then the next on quiet. It is quaint, that is the best word.
Yes it is narrower, but there are still lots of parking surfaces. Walked to Germantown today from Center Italian market.
The homeless population has grown, at least today. Very sad.
To each their own--no one city is paradise to everyone. I think the dynamic of having relatively quiet/quaint residential streets immediately adjacent to a bustling commercial area is a nice option for people who want proximity to urban amenities but not necessarily want to live in the thick of the action. But again, not for everyone.
Philly actually has made immense progress on infill of vacant surface lots, and that will undoubtedly continue as real estate booms, but yes, there's still much progress to be made, particularly north of Center City.
Homelessness is always more noticeable in the warmer months, and it's terribly sad, but it's actually worse in several other large cities (verified by actual counts) including NYC, Boston, DC, LA, Seattle and San Francisco--obviously correlating to exhorbitant housing costs: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.for...fographic/amp/
I will just agree to disagree. New York City is in a class of its own, followed by Chicago, then the rest.
Philadelphia is my least favorite east coast city and each street esp around center city is either kinda going, but then the next on quiet. It is quaint, that is the best word.
Yes it is narrower, but there are still lots of parking surfaces. Walked to Germantown today from Center Italian market.
The homeless population has grown, at least today. Very sad.
You walked to Germantown., from South Philly??? Yoose a walkin mutha scooter!
Didja walk back?
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