Chicago

Here’s a followup to some of the points made in my last post, and a response to readers and Twitter (X) commenters.

First, a quick refresh on my earlier post.  read more »

Canada and the United States are among a minority of national governments that formally designate metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas are labor and housing markets which include a core urban area (built up or developed area) as well as rural territory  read more »

Suburban urbanism is making another cameo appearance.

As most followers of cities know, the lack of housing affordability in large cities, combined with the impact of the rising work-from-home phenomenon since the start of the Covid pandemic, has provided a powerful one-two punch to cities  read more »

Despite the continuing pressure from employers for employees to work on-site, working from home continues at a strong pace. Just released data from WFH Research indicates that 41.3% of US workers worked at home at least part of the time between March and June 2023.  read more »

Suburban urbanism is making another cameo appearance.

As most followers of cities know, the lack of housing affordability in large cities, combined with the impact of the rising work-from-home phenomenon since the start of the Covid pandemic, has provided a powerful one-two punch to cities  read more »

I’ve always believed that the way you find your path to a certain direction in life determines quite a bit to your approach once on the path. Like a kid who was bullied by classmates becomes a boxer or martial artist and believes that the mastery of physical and mental discipline is the key to a good life. Or an introverted child who learns about a vastly larger world through books and believes that libraries can restore your soul. Sometimes you find a way to transcend from one life plane to another and you want the world to follow you.  read more »

I'm going to make a little deviation from the bulk of the "Welcome to..." stories you see below, which mostly focus on South Side Chicago neighborhoods (the exceptions are Rosemont, in Chicago's northwest suburbs, and Park Forest, in the south suburbs).  read more »

For all the talk about how the pandemic, remote work, social distancing and other huge new developments have dislodged traditional patterns in business and life in America and created vast new opportunities in the process, Flyover Country has left a lot on the table.  read more »

Even in the era of digital marketing and online home-page “takeovers” by brands with something to announce, it’s full-page ads in major newspapers where companies still turn when they want to make an important statement.  read more »

Here’s part 5, the last entry of my “Tottering Chicago?” series. In case you didn’t know or had forgotten, this series was prompted after reading William Voegeli’s That Tottering Town  read more »