Quote:
Originally Posted by emathias
Yes, but they're broken up into bite-sized pieces in those Ohio and Ontario stretches.
Part of it, too, I think is that Streeterville isn't particularly pleasant to walk in. There are a lot of long, blank walls, and Illinois and Grand are pretty high-speed. North of that part is the Northwestern campus, which is dead quiet in the evenings. It just feels like a jumble of large buildings that are each preoccupied with themselves, sited on a series of blocks that are a full numbered block long. In River North and the Gold Coast, most of the blocks are broken into half-block sizes, which leaves more edges for shops and makes for more variety when walking. ...
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The old part of Streeterville is a good example. But seems to me that relatively dense areas with fairly sparse retail are common. The Gold Coast area - North to Division, Lakefront to Wells - is dense but doesn't have a retail corridor running through. (If Sandburg had been designed differently, there might be a retail stretch along Clark Street.) Hyde Park east of the tracks is also similar - dense but IIRC not much retail outside a strip along 55th. Instead the retail center is west of the tracks. And as the lakefront represents a dead end, maybe this is more sensible.
That isn't to say these areas should be different; maybe they are fine the way they are. But if retail isn't designed into an area (or doesn't make sense in an area) then an area can be heavily populated but feel inactive. And, IMO, if much of the retail is spread piecemeal throughout an area rather than along a commercial street, it may give the appearance of less activity. I used to feel there was an opportunity to create a strong retail corridor between Michigan and Navy Pier that served Pier foot traffic and local demand (something with a little more charm and inviting to visitors that connects two major visitor destinations), but I don't know if that was ever studied.