[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ All I know is every foreigner I've brought here who hasn't seen Chicago before loses their shit as soon as they see it. A couple of buddies of mine from London were flabergasted because London simply doesn't have the gargantuan ultra dense CBD that Chicago does. So when I say I like Chicago's built form better than any other city, I mean I think it is outstanding already and not nearly complete like much older cities that have accumulated many generations of buildings filling in every little nook and cranny. The exciting thing about Chicago is that we already have the bones we do and we have plenty of room to be the ones who "finish" neighborhoods and finally bring them to a level of maturity more like what you see in Europe.

If the entirety of Chicago was like Lincoln Park in terms of it's level of development, would you agree with me? I think you would. Fortunately for us we are living in the middle of Chicago's second gentrification cycle, we have opportunities to add to our city that haven't been available to places like Paris or London for many centuries. I mean just look at the mega development sites like Lincoln Yards, 78, LSE, etc. then look at how areas like Logan Square or Wicker Park have gone from "missing teeth" to skyscraper TOD in a mere 10 years or so. Drive down Belmont and see how they've basically demolished every rickety frame structure and built on every underutilized old industrial parcel. Look at the freaking West Loop for Pete's sake! Literally adding an entire new district to the city in what? 5 or 10 years?

So yes, we have lots to work on, yes not everything we build is going to be a masterpiece. But the opportunities we have right now are pretty much non existent in the history of cities. I mean you have places in Europe like Rome that were world superpowers for 800 years ending over 1500 years ago. That's not something Chicago is going to be able to match in a couple of centuries despite being the first truly modern industrial boomtown. Chicago in many ways set the mold for what is happening in every developing country like China where vast cities sprung up overnight. And guess what, I think the original is still the best. Oh and those boomtowns are going to also have to face their own busts at some point as well. There will be a depreciation hangover at some point for any city that blows up like Chicago, and it's almost more fun to be given the opportunity to work on rebuilding the city for the first or second time than it is to build it or be working in the constraints of something more or less complete that anciently sacred.