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Yea, wide avenues of high-rises, packed subways, high pedestrian traffic. Philly is very urban too, it is more compact in a way that is uniquely its own. Maybe parts of Boston are compact like Philly, but that's about it
Chicago feels nothing like NYC and outside of the Loop it doesn't really look a whole lot like it, either. I guess you can find a resemblance on a tour boat out on the lake looking back at the skyline but the similarities are really very weak. Boston and Philly (maybe?) feel more like NYC in a small number of areas but aren't especially comparable, either.
It's always interesting to me that Americans feel this incessant need to find a plausible stand-in for one of the greatest cities in the world. Literally nothing in America comes even a little bit close to NYC by most meaningful metrics. It's a singular city whose history and layout are unique enough that it all happened to spark one of the most successful cities in human history. American culture is certainly a part of the New York story but in reality there will likely never be a city like that in the US because the contours or modern American culture do not favor that kind of development--the big, dense industrial cities (like Chicago or whatever) are all slipping and the new American city--to the dismay of so many here, I know--is not moving in that direction.
If scale is the only metric no city is going to be comparable for obvious reasons. By feel Philly, Boston and to a degree Baltimore are most in line.
DC is a lowrise city and far too manicured (and incredibly monotonous in its downtown) to pass for anything resembling NYC.
Chicago is also a little too manicured to pass for NYC; I get the high-rise analogy, but it lacks the patina and historical "layered-ness" of the East Coast.
Boston and Philly have the best arguments; they have the chaotic "old world urban" vibe, although Boston has (obviously) much more of a New England vernacular and is un-gridded.
What do demographics have to do with urban feel though?
SF doesn't have large European ethnic enclaves (relatively) and the associated communities built around them that are a staple centers of eastern seaboard cities.
Chicago feels nothing like NYC and outside of the Loop it doesn't really look a whole lot like it, either. I guess you can find a resemblance on a tour boat out on the lake looking back at the skyline but the similarities are really very weak. Boston and Philly (maybe?) feel more like NYC in a small number of areas but aren't especially comparable, either.
It's always interesting to me that Americans feel this incessant need to find a plausible stand-in for one of the greatest cities in the world. Literally nothing in America comes even a little bit close to NYC by most meaningful metrics. It's a singular city who's history and layout are unique enough that it all happened to spark one of the most successful cities in human history. American culture is certainly a part of the New York story but in reality there will likely never be a city like that in the US because the contours or modern American culture do not favor that kind of development--the big, dense industrial cities (like Chicago or whatever) are all slipping and the new American city--to the dismay of so many here, I know--is not moving in that direction.
You're kind of romanticizing a history which amounts to New York City annexing everything in sight to stave off Chicago's exponential growth which at the time was the only city in the U.S to ever reach the status of being a true peer/rival.
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