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I get what you mean by "small town" Main street (this naming is quite literal in some suburbs). To be fair, a lot of Chicago suburbs were at first their own smaller cities before being absorbed into suburbia. Aurora and Joliet are good examples of this. However, I wouldn't say Naperville's walkable area has that typical small town Main street feel. When I was walking around Downtown Naperville back in March just before the pandemic shutdown, it felt like I was walking in a central city or one of Chicago's busier streets in a trendier neighborhood. There was a decent amount of pedestrian traffic. It's funny, because if you ever look at Downtown Naperville on aerial streetview it's not that big, rather it doesn't stand out from any other nearby suburb that happens to be much smaller than it is. (Maybe an effect of it once being a <50,000 pop city not too long ago). I'm not quite ready to nominate Naperville as a candidate for Chicago's "Second City", like one thread in a sub-forum once hyped, but I can definitely see it being a major gravitational pull within the far /Dupage County west suburbs at the very least.
Re: Naperville that’s interesting, I hadn’t really thought about it that way. Maybe I’m a little jaded because of the amount of times I’ve been there, haha. Although come to think of it, I do get some Downtown Naperville vibes walking down Clark Street in Andersonville. AFAIK both neighborhoods top out at 4 stories, although Clark Street on a busy summer day is probably a little more vibrant than Naperville. Naperville has a big high school demographic, but Clark Street has more 20-somethings. I see lots of couples pushing strollers in both.
Somehow Aurora completely slipped my mind, even though I’m familiar with that area. You’re right about it being its own city before being absorbed into the rest of Chicagoland. I do think Aurora suffers from a somewhat unfortunate reputation vis-a-vis its peers, but seems like their downtown was revitalizing these past few years.
Re: Naperville that’s interesting, I hadn’t really thought about it that way. Maybe I’m a little jaded because of the amount of times I’ve been there, haha. Although come to think of it, I do get some Downtown Naperville vibes walking down Clark Street in Andersonville. AFAIK both neighborhoods top out at 4 stories, although Clark Street on a busy summer day is probably a little more vibrant than Naperville. Naperville has a big high school demographic, but Clark Street has more 20-somethings. I see lots of couples pushing strollers in both.
Somehow Aurora completely slipped my mind, even though I’m familiar with that area. You’re right about it being its own city before being absorbed into the rest of Chicagoland. I do think Aurora suffers from a somewhat unfortunate reputation vis-a-vis its peers, but seems like their downtown was revitalizing these past few years.
Aurora might be larger, but it's just not a good city. Naperville...a very good city.
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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Late to the game but if you are not going to factor in COL are you also not going to factor in weather? Seems like an imperfect question from the start.
Late to the game but if you are not going to factor in COL are you also not going to factor in weather? Seems like an imperfect question from the start.
Many major cities in the world, have a winter. London, NYC, Paris, Toronto, and many cities in Europe. Chicago certainly isn't the only major city to have winter.
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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True, but LA sells itself on weather and a number of people do relocate with weather/climate a high priority for them. Not sure how you can factor out COL and other unintended consequences, such as homelessness—kinda like an “if my aunt had balls” scenario by ignoring it. I like both cities but for different reasons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enean
Many major cities in the world, have a winter. London, NYC, Paris, Toronto, and many cities in Europe. Chicago certainly isn't the only major city to have winter.
Many major cities in the world, have a winter. London, NYC, Paris, Toronto, and many cities in Europe. Chicago certainly isn't the only major city to have winter.
There's a huge difference between winter in Chicago and winter in London/Paris. Winter in London/Paris is closer to winter in Nashville or Charlotte, which are cities that people in Chicago move to so that they can get away from Chicago winter. Winter in Chicago is certainly tougher than winter in most major cities around the world.
There's a huge difference between winter in Chicago and winter in London/Paris. Winter in London/Paris is closer to winter in Nashville or Charlotte, which are cities that people in Chicago move to so that they can get away from Chicago winter. Winter in Chicago is certainly tougher than winter in most major cities around the world.
Western Europe seems to be more like the Pacific Northwest in terms of climate than the upland South.
You're right there are more major cities with more moderate winters than Chicago than there are with similar or worse. Chicago's winters aren't too far off from that of New England and other Great Lakes cities, large chunks of Eastern Europe, and the northern parts of East Asia. There's maybe dozens of sizable metropolitan areas (especially in China) that have about as bad winters and some that have it notably worse like Montreal, Moscow, and Minneapolis.
Chicago and NYC have very similar average temps. Differences, are pretty inconsequential.
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