Chicago: Wonderfully scaled city (Lincoln, Madison: real estate, apartments, condos)

[edsg25]

We are a product of our times. And since 2008, and arguably even before that, a new era has been rolling in. It is an era where we see the limits of what mankind can do to the environment, a need to be a partner with it. Concentration of people in urban spaces is good as it contributes to lowering energy costs and enhances functionality.

Yet scale also indicates that the 20th century's drive to forever raise the skyline...in height and bulk, carries many a downside, the chief one being our inability to function in the hermetically sealed manmade worlds we create.

Now this is nothing but opinion here, but i truly believe it:

No time in history has ever shown Chicago's scaling to be the incredibly brilliant thing it is. And though I say this as a Chicagoan, I hope hubris is not what is guiding me when I say:

No city's plan, layout, and execution of those efforts beats that of our Windy City.

Chicago is a core city like none other. No city offers the convergence of all arteries (auto, rapid transit, commuter rail, etc.) towards one spot like Chicago does. That spot was once the Loop; today it is a far greater Super Loop from North Avenue to Cermak, the lakefront to the UC.

That tight mass is a beautifully scaled group of skyscrapers of magnificent architecture that soars above lakefront and prairie, yet manages to be enticing without being totally overpowering once inside our Emerald City core.

What amazes in Chicago, however, is how that height in the downtown area and the lakefront quickly transitions to the lower scaled settings as it moves westward. Admittedly the scale and its product are far more enticing on the North Side, but we can certainly see how it plays out quite successfully on the south in places like the South Loop down to McCormick Place and also in Hyde Park.

Chicago in these areas remains tight and urban and with a buzz of major city and the concentration of pleasures it offers while offering a truly human setting of town houses, small and midrise condos and apartments, individual homes, etc. The sumptous neighborhoods that line the lakefront from the Gold Coast up to LakeView/Wrigeyville and arguably beyond, off the mix of blue lake, sun colored sand, the green of Lincoln Park, and the walkable and charming neighborhoods behind...from the high rises closest to the lake to the lower scaled areas immediately to the west. Our very flatness and the rigidity of the massive grid makes it all work, tying all parts together into a whole. No boroughs separated by rivers or Hollywood Hills separating city form valley are part of the Chicago experience. It's all Chicago. Chicago is a celebration of the flat as San Francisco is of the hilly.

This is all opinion here, folks, and I offer as such. Nothing I'm saying would indicate you should agree with me. Nor any expectation that you would. But to me, Chicago is the ULTIMATE city in America. No city, IMHO, comes close to the notion of "not too big, not too small" of Goldilocks and the 3 Chicago Bears as ours does. We manage to put together the critical mass of NY and LA and the charm and scale of Boston and San Francisco in the most unique ways.

We don't always appreciate the true gem we have here (although we are now living at a time when "outsiders" are far more likely to tell us they agree with that assessment than to observe otherwise).

[williepotatoes]

Unfortunately, your glowing review is very narrow in scope. Chicago is a huge chunk of real estate, and it can't be judged truthfully without inclusion of all it's neighborhoods. There are just too many neighborhoods in a state of decline here to ignore.

I love those magnificent aspects of the city that you describe, as much as any tourist or native does. That being said, your pitch is all Chamber of Commerce with no Nelson Algren mixed in.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by williepotatoes

Unfortunately, your glowing review is very narrow in scope. Chicago is a huge chunk of real estate, and it can't be judged truthfully without inclusion of all it's neighborhoods. There are just too many neighborhoods in a state of decline here to ignore.

I love those magnificent aspects of the city that you describe, as much as any tourist or native does. That being said, your pitch is all Chamber of Commerce with no Nelson Algren mixed in.

Upton Sinclair just sent me 40 tons of rotting meat and the rotting men who have to carve it. I'll be sure to include it in my post.

poverty and neighborhoods in decline: do I agree with you? Hell yes. But don't forget that this is a nation that has set its goal on every city being like Detroit. In that respect, I think it may have succeeded rather admirably.

[PulSamsara]

I think you pulled a wake and bake on your balcony this morning
-but I concur.

[grapico]

I'm not too sure about your analysis. Not too big, or not too small is entirely subjective to what you like. Was Chicago too big when its population was 800K higher?

Also Chicago is many things but the scale and general flow from the inner core and outwards is not that good compared to other cities in the same "category".

I personally think more fill in and rehab of urban plight near downtown would have been better investments into the city than the streak of skyscrapers going down the lake front. They don't really add to the urban core at all and are only visually nice from the lake front. If you go about 2-3 miles west of Downtown on Madison, or 2-3 miles South on State Street, you are pretty much in the ghetto. If you go just a few miles southwest you run into abandoned warehouses and empty fields.

I think the transition you speak of is actually quite poor... It isn't much of a transition at all as parts of it are residential, then urban decay warehouses, areas where was just recently projects, then all of a sudden you have the nice downtown. To me that is not good and makes getting around to the better areas of the city more difficult than it necessarily should be. A lot of that has to do with long term planned segregation from way back like what happened around Bronzeville.

That doesn't mean I don't like Chicago, I do, just your analysis isn't exactly on point IMHO and is a bit misleading.

I think several cities in North America pull off what you are referring to Chicago doing better.

Good PR pitch though, do you work in marketing?