Chicago vs New York from street level (statistics, living, state)
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I recently saw a car commercial that took place in Chicago, a few of the buildings stuck out to me. I was in the room with some of my coworkers and asked them what city they thought it was, they both said it looked like New York City.
Are your co-workers familiar with New York City besides a short tourist visit?
No, but neither is 90% of the general American public.
Well, yeah. Any major city can look like NYC if you're ignorant about urbanism. I could show you intersections in Detroit or New Orleans that could pass for NYC to those not aware of urban nuance. Just find any urban intersection with prewar highrises, and you can probably "pass" as NYC.
Chicago has a very different street level feel than NYC, but, yeah the average person might not pick up on the obvious things. The highrises tend to be tower-on-base, with huge parking podiums at the base. This style is almost unknown in NYC. The streets are wider, the grid is different, there are alleys, the sidewalks are narrower, the lot sizes are bigger, there are more street trees, more curb cuts, higher proportion of buildings from the 1960's and 1970's, etc.
Although, Chicago certainly comes the closest to NYC in terms of feeling like a big urban city. But, I feel like San Francisco, Philly and to a lesser extent Boston come closer to capturing the NYC street feel. Despite having the biggest urban canyons outside NYC, Chicago feels a little less tightly built than those cities. It just doesn't quite have the old-school jammed together feel.
Location: East Central Pennsylvania/ Chicago for 6yrs.
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Surprises me LA guy has nothing like NYC.... Here I thought that was more LA nothing like NYC. ....
I found these post pretty accurate....
So I merely combined them to gain a comparison... Both cities deserve their values. NYC IS A WORLDS
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Originally Posted by sav858
NYC is more crowded and a lot dirtier. Plus all the trashbags on the street at night.
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Originally Posted by sav858
The Loop just feels cleaner, more organized, better streets, and not quite as loud, "gritty, crowded, and bustling as Manhattan imo.
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Originally Posted by westburbsil
Loop during rush hour feels the exact same as anywhere in Manhattan and I have been to Manhattan over 100 times. Mich Ave and 5th Ave feel the same, but Mich ave much prettier.
Also, Chicago's loop, just like NYC financial district is a ghost town after 7 or so. Hope that helps!
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Originally Posted by nei
Though I'll add Midtown was developed relatively late, maybe 1860s. I don't think age affects much how much the shop concentration is.
I think they're only similar in the city centers. Outside Chicago isn't that similar to NYC. In some ways by scale and architecture, the closest Northeastern city to Chicago residential neighborhoods is Boston — lots of two and three family buildings, and both have a lot of wooden buildings. Densities are fairly similar except in the Chicago high rise neighborhoods by the lake, and Boston has a bunch of with 5 story ish apartment block surrounding downtown which nearly the same density. Chicago's gridded and goes on for much longer than Boston of course.
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Originally Posted by urbanologist
Chicago also has more residential highrises than both Boston and Philly combined. When it comes to vertical urban living (highrise residents/skyscraper office workers) Chicago easily beats any area of the Northeast outside NYC.
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Originally Posted by westburbsil
Loop during rush hour feels the exact same as anywhere in Manhattan and I have been to Manhattan over 100 times. Mich Ave and 5th Ave feel the same, but Mich ave much prettier.
That said, NYC is 3 times larger so the vast amount of areas in Manhattan and surrounding boroughs are vastly more crowded. There is nothing in regards to crowded activity like Time Square, it is the most iconic and packed place in NYC that is lit up.
Also, Chicago's loop, just like NYC financial district is a ghost town after 7 or so.
To me Also....5th Ave has N. Michigan Ave as in Chicago as its counterpart.
No, but neither is 90% of the general American public.
My point is someone from the Midwest, or at least the Great Lakes region near Chicago would be familiar with Chicago much more than NYC. If he hasn't spent much time in NYC, he might assume that NYC is similar to Chicago just larger. Similarly, before I traveled much and paid much attention to "urbanism" I assumed Chicago was just a smaller, somewhat less busy version of NYC. I assume many in the Northeast would do the same — many Northeasterns within say, a 4-5 hour drive of NYC are familiar with NYC but not Chicago.
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