[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

yep. LA and chicago are kinda at opposite ends of the mono-centrism/poly-centrism spectrum.

overall, LA feels bigger because it is, and because it has so many more nodes of activity.

chicago threw all of its cultural eggs in one basket, whereas LA threw theirs all over the place.


i blame the el and metra. the (downtown) beast must be fed, and feed it the trains do. this is how you end up with hyper-centralization; everything goes to one, and only one, place:


source: https://parking.com/chicago/chicago-cta-monthly-parking


source: https://chicagotransitguide.com/maps/metra-map/

This post ain't complete without adding in the South Shore Line:


https://www.mysouthshoreline.com/tickets/maps-stations