Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
^ Exactly what I thought... 
Anyhow, here's a question: what's wrong with overwhelming the pedestrian? There is always talk about having tall towers without "disrupting the human scale". Yes, I believe active street level activity is important (retail, for example), but beyond that, why is it wrong to have towers right up against the street? |
For the same reason that a bunch of retailers haven't joined billy goat tavern in setting up shop on the lower streets of Chicago.
It's not necessarily 'wrong' but just like when designing living and working spaces the intention is often toward creating open naturally lit welcoming spaces and building right up against the street doesn't necessarily facilitate that. If you think of any street in the loop compared to Michigan Ave. just in terms of the built environment I think the majority of people would say that Michigan Ave is much more warm / inviting and the loop is much more imposing.