As a place to live, in my opinion the biggest thing that Chicago has over other cities I've spent significant time in is green space. The city's motto is Urbs in Horto, and it shows. Virtually the entire lake shore is one big park, outside of downtown most the area along the river is also park land, there are forest preserves within city limits, and other significantly-sized parks and playgrounds are scattered all across the city. I suspect that it be quite hard to find a spot in the city that isn't within walking distance of at least one public baseball diamond or soccer field. Even non-park areas are greener, on account of more (and bigger) trees lining the residential streets.
Architecture would be another nice feature; the city has definitely benefited from being the home of many of the USA's most influential architects.
In summer the city's absolutely rotten with street festivals, which is also pretty fantastic.
So no, nothing that would be particularly notable to a non-resident. But you can't spend an afternoon outside reading a book under a social media startup or an up-and-coming fashion designer.
Lived in the Midwest for well over a decade. Drove 48 hours straight to GTFO of there with extreme prejudice at the earliest opportunity. There's a few top tier universities, some big transnationals like Monsanto, Boeing, Nestle - you know what great if that's your thing. Personally I didn't ever think "big money" was the best reason for living in the midwest while I was there for so long, but I digress.
My caustic opinion is if you're not a farmer or self-sufficient type who is thrilled with the opportunity to live outside of a big city, then try for a city on the coast, like San Francisco. Big midwestern cities just aren't "all that" relative to their coastal counterparts. In the midwest you get:
- Higher crime rates and corruption
- Miserable, MISERABLE prolonged winters
- Salted roads --> depresses the value of any enthusiast (Porsche/BMW/Ferrari) type cars you might have on resale
- Rampant backwards conservatism
- Uncomfortably hot and humid summers
- Tornados and severe weather
- A severe lack of places to go and things to see
After living there for so long, I have a really tough time understanding why you would want to stay there if the opportunity to leave arrived, unless you're involved with a major university or are a farmer / homesteader type person living in the country. Bottom line, if you could magically swap San Francisco with Chicago, social network and assets included at no cost for a day I bet 100% of my money a bunch of Chicagoans would reconsider their whereabouts, and most SFers would be PISSED.
Also. And this is important: weed is legal or effectively legal for most of the west coast. This may not be a big deal to you but it's just amazingly energizing to live in an area with sane people who are not brainwashed as opposed to backwards conservatives so prevalent in the midwest. People are healthier and more active here, and I feel many are a bit more open minded. You can call it a negative that the startup scene is unavoidable, but really, isn't fluorishing innovation what you'd expect to see in any super happening big city? If you don't want to see innovation, maybe city life isn't for you, maybe dairy farming is for you.
I can't imagine any city in the US being greener than Seattle. It is called the emerald city for a reason! Of course, it helps that most of the trees in Seattle are conifers that don't lose their needles in the winter.
Winters are absolutely brutal in the midwest, I would take rain over having to wear a heavy jacket.
Architecture would be another nice feature; the city has definitely benefited from being the home of many of the USA's most influential architects.
In summer the city's absolutely rotten with street festivals, which is also pretty fantastic.
So no, nothing that would be particularly notable to a non-resident. But you can't spend an afternoon outside reading a book under a social media startup or an up-and-coming fashion designer.