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Even when seeing the thread title, my first thought was "everything on the West Coast." Heck, a pop band from Vancouver once had a single titled " The City You Live In Is Ugly," though nobody would dispute that Vancouver has one of the world's most stunning natural settings.
So I'll say that the city that epitomizes great built environment, blah natural environment is Chicago, and the city that epitomizes the opposite is San Francisco.
And I brought an expert witness! John King, the SF Chronicle's architecture critic, once visited my offices after a walk through downtown Chicago and a tour of a new building on Wells Street. (It's definitely nobody's idea of Chicago's finest street -- lots of parking garages and a few remnants of a red-light district.) His subsequent article centered around that walk down a few workaday-Chicago blocks, saying at the time that if they were in SF, would be declared historic treasures, "put under glass in a museum."
Even when seeing the thread title, my first thought was "everything on the West Coast." Heck, a pop band from Vancouver once had a single titled "
The City You Live In Is Ugly," though nobody would dispute that Vancouver has one of the world's most stunning natural settings.
So I'll say that the city that epitomizes great built environment, blah natural environment is Chicago, and the city that epitomizes the opposite is San Francisco.
And I brought an expert witness! John King, the SF Chronicle's architecture critic, once visited my offices after a walk through downtown Chicago and a tour of a new building on Wells Street. (It's definitely nobody's idea of Chicago's finest street -- lots of parking garages and a few remnants of a red-light district.) His subsequent article centered around that walk down a few workaday-Chicago blocks, saying at the time that if they were in SF, would be declared historic treasures, "put under glass in a museum."
People seem to be forgetting, that Chicago's environment is not all "blah." If you look to the east.....it's entirely Lake Michigan. Hardly anything blah about that. Also, the river that runs through downtown, lends something pretty spectacular to the downtown skyscrapers, and that would be...nature.
LA has the LA River which is the opposite of scenic - it's ugly. There's the Pacific Ocean, but only a few miles are actually in city limits and most of that (the harbor) isn't scenic. Then to the east is hundreds of miles of desert. Many like desert scenery, but I'm not one of them. LA's saving grace is large mountains in the background.
OK, but I'm talking about metro areas here. So yes, LA metro area has tons of coastline.
Why is everyone saying SF has a crappy built environment? OK, I get it, there's lots of crime and homelessness. There's run down buildings. But you'd have to be blind not to marvel at the Golden Gate Bridge, the Oakland Bay Bridge, the Downtown SF skyline, Lombard Street, Coit Tower, the Painted Ladies, the cable cars, and just the vibrancy and character of neighborhoods like Chinatown.
If SF has a crappy built environment, then same could be said about Chicago, which has lots of ghettos, too, and crappy infrastructure. And Chicago doesn't even have any bridge as monumental as the Golden Gate. But no one's saying Chicago doesn't have an impressive built environment.
Why is everyone saying SF has a crappy built environment?
Who is "everyone"? I've read every reply to this thread and only one person says this (jas75). So why are you distorting the comments? You posed it as a rhetorical question and answered it yourself?
Last edited by Vic Romano; 11-30-2019 at 11:56 PM..
Flat cities seem to get a instant mediocre natural scenery stigma and mountains even just in backgrounds and hills to higher .... all the beauty.
In general. Bodies if water can add much to even flat cities. Some cities still even with hills and higher. Have the majority of their built environment on the flat anyway.
Flat cities seem to get a instant mediocre natural scenery stigma and mountains even just in backgrounds and hills to higher .... all the beauty.
In general. Bodies if water can add much to even flat cities. Some cities still even with hills and higher. Have the majority of their built environment on the flat anyway.
Of course. It's easier to build on the flat areas. But I have to agree with those who find greater natural beauty in hills and mountains than flat land, even if the mountains are "just" in the background.
The problem with bodies of water as scenery is that you don't see them unless you are right next to them. If a city is built near mountains, you can see them from everywhere.
Of course. It's easier to build on the flat areas. But I have to agree with those who find greater natural beauty in hills and mountains than flat land, even if the mountains are "just" in the background.
The problem with bodies of water as scenery is that you don't see them unless you are right next to them. If a city is built near mountains, you can see them from everywhere.
You'd still need a vantage to see mountains, especially if the city is super dense.
I don't see how Chicago doesn't walk away with this. If Chicago had mountains, it would have to be the best city in the world in my eyes.
Well.... that and better weather. I would never even think of leaving.
While I agree, I think Lake Michigan is underrated. No other non-Coastal US city offers a real beach and sailing like Chicago does.
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