# The most organized urban planning & skyscrapers in the world!



## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

Which city in the world has the most organized urban planning & skyscrapers?

Please tell us the cities and please feel free to show its urban layout along with its skyline, thanks!

I present to you of chicago urban planning and skyline in *1996*:


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## shibuya_suki (Apr 24, 2005)

chicago downtown planning like most boring NA city downtown,i can say most american city hold this title
and dubai,shanghai pudong


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

shibuya_suki said:


> chicago downtown planning like most boring NA city downtown,i can say most american city hold this title
> and dubai,shanghai pudong


chicago downtown urban planning isn't like most of boring NA cities at all! Which part of chicago downtown do you find similar?


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

The other candidates that I believe have a very organized urban planning & skyscrapers are Toronto, Dubai, Sydney, LA, NYC, Vancouver....!Anyone got aerial pics of these cities, please feel free to put them up here!


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

Oh, let me tell you why Chicago has one of the world's most organized city & urban planning!

Because of its location as the US's biggest crossroads from every directions! Image an unorganized urban planning for Chicago, do you think that the *TRANSPORTATION HUB/CENTER* would pick Chicago as a mid pointer transaction? Let me tell you something about organized urban planning, it relieves traffic and cut down and energy on turnning and griding and it saves time on travel time and that is why Chicago urban planning ALWAYS have ORGANIZED philosphy in mind, and if you think that it is boring, our citizens/mobilers can careless cause we appreciate what Chicago's vision was and will be!


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## shibuya_suki (Apr 24, 2005)

hk is organized i repeat,one thing that you said is unorganized is you never know hong kong and never been to there
its the first time i heard in SSC that about unnorganized in hongkong

hk is the major hub of transportation centre,their highway infrastructre ,tunnel,subway,is one of the best in world ,better than chicago

although chicago is transoprt hub ,i find that the public transport is quite bad,in vertical city like hongkong,public transport seems to most efficient in world


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

shibuya_suki said:


> hk is organized i repeat,one thing that you said is unorganized is you never know hong kong and never been to there
> its the first time i heard in SSC that about unnorganized in hongkong
> 
> hk is the major hub of transportation centre,their highway infrastructre ,tunnel,subway,is one of the best in world ,better than chicago
> ...


Just look at the aerial HK urban, is it really that organized? Just look at the kwoolon side, its residential highrises are practically EVERYWHERE! If you say that is organized, I would have to say that tokyo is way more organized than that!  

The chicago transportation system that you found it bad is because it has been establish for such long history, image HK's transportation systerm some 50 years later,LOL! Trust me, chicago's major transportation infrastructures didn't born yesterday, they have been in operations for as long as a century!


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## shibuya_suki (Apr 24, 2005)

^nyc manhattan is not organized,residential highrise everywere


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

shibuya_suki said:


> ^nyc manhattan is not organized,residential highrise everywere


You got pics to show aerial NYC manhanttan's disorganized?  Love to check em out, how about tsome aerial HK?


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

The old and bad transportation systems that you felt has served Chicago WELL for 100 years now, let their retirement be pride!
What out for chicago's newest transportation systerm to replace these retirees!


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Another city with an organized urban planning is Pyongyang in North Korea


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

Midway Airport








US Steel


















Evanston & NWU

















West Suburbs


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## chymera00 (Mar 6, 2005)

i do agree ... Chicago's aerials look very organized, that's why its so boring. Such a big grid city, even the airport looks a bit boring.


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## _00_deathscar (Mar 16, 2005)

Singapore for me.


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

chymera00 said:


> i do agree ... Chicago's aerials look very organized, that's why its so boring. Such a big grid city, even the airport looks a bit boring.


LOL, Boring because of organized! I sense that you don't like pancake!
We trade your boringness for the better travel! What isn't boring to u? 

BTW, that boring airport is Midway and it is the 2nd airport in chicago!


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## Valeroso (Sep 19, 2004)

Sydney is definitely not an organised or planned city. It has various roads here and there, hills, things popping up everywhere, and you can easily get lost in it. (But thats for the better. Planned cities are too artificial for me). But in terms of skyline, then Sydney wins instantly. The pyramid effect with every building gradually getting higher until they reach the Centrepoint tower is a perfect skyline for me. Then again, I suppose that may either be based on luck or chance.


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## Valeroso (Sep 19, 2004)

Oops, double post. So I'll just reply to the grid post. I'm not a big fan of the grid system either. Its too artificial; too straight and leaves little to the imagination. But with that being said, I love Chicago's skyline and its a great example of an organisated city.


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

Valeroso said:


> Oops, double post. So I'll just reply to the grid post. I'm not a big fan of the grid system either. Its too artificial; too straight and leaves little to the imagination. But with that being said, I love Chicago's skyline and its a great example of an organisated city.


Thank urban planners for all these grid system long time ago which make Chicago such an unique city! If is wasn't these organized grid systems, I wonder if Chicago even have the transportation hub/center in the USA. BTW, Chicago Skyline also vertical extreme based on its straight grids. Without these grids, I don't think that Chicago skyline would turns out to be these extreme, especially the vertial side of it. Think about it! The stright grid line leads horizontal and chicago skyscrapers lears vertical so Chicago has one of the rare *angle* skyline view in the world! Remember 90 degrees!


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## shibuya_suki (Apr 24, 2005)

^you said kowloon side has many residential skyscraper,so its un organized
so what about nyc?

grid system make chicago unique? how unique,hongkong has grid,nyc has grid


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

shibuya_suki said:


> ^you said kowloon side has many residential skyscraper,so its un organized
> so what about nyc?
> 
> grid system make chicago unique? how unique,hongkong has grid,nyc has grid


The miles and miles of straight grid lines as oppose to those short grid lines of HK. Look at chicago's miles and miles of straight gridlines horiaontally meets the chicago skyline where its skyscraper complete its angle with soon to be mile of vertical line, which part can't you feel this uniqueness from Chicago ONLY!


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

In the area of urban planning, I'm not so sure which is the most organized. But the most influential in modern times has got to be Baron Haussmann's transformation of Paris from a medieval city to a truly modern one. It is impossible to imagine Daniel H. Burnham creating his 'Plan of Chicago' (perhaps the most influential document of it's type in NA) in the early 1900s without the work of Haussmann. I would say most planned modern cities owe a great deal to his vision, and modern Paris is still pretty much in his stamp.


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

tpe said:


> In the area of urban planning, I'm not so sure which is the most organized. But the most influential in modern times has got to be Baron Haussmann's transformation of Paris from a medieval city to a truly modern one. It is impossible to imagine Daniel H. Burnham creating his 'Plan of Chicago' (perhaps the most influential document of it's type in NA) in the early 1900s without the work of Haussmann. I would say most planned modern cities owe a great deal to his vision, and modern Paris is still pretty much in his stamp.


I do think that Paris also has a great sense of urban planning, but just fall way short on the skyline area! 

But Chicago is all about balancing, with organized urban planning to its extreme vertical skyline!


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

Perhaps.  

As an afterthought, Chicago's skyline would not be what it is now without the Burnham Plan. Had he not attacked the problem of elevations on the north and south banks of the Chicago river, development of the near north side skyline would have been stunted.


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

tpe said:


> Perhaps.
> 
> As an afterthought, Chicago's skyline would not be what it is now without the Burnham Plan. Had he not attacked the problem of elevations on the north and south banks of the Chicago river, development of the near north side skyline would have been stunted.


You sounded like no outsider to me, great point!


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## Azn_chi_boi (Mar 11, 2005)

Yes, Chicago takes the prize as The most organized urban planning & skyscrapers in the world!


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## Valeroso (Sep 19, 2004)

ChicagoSkyline said:


> Thank urban planners for all these grid system long time ago which make Chicago such an unique city! If is wasn't these organized grid systems, I wonder if Chicago even have the transportation hub/center in the USA. BTW, Chicago Skyline also vertical extreme based on its straight grids. Without these grids, I don't think that Chicago skyline would turns out to be these extreme, especially the vertial side of it. Think about it! The stright grid line leads horizontal and chicago skyscrapers lears vertical so Chicago has one of the rare *angle* skyline view in the world! Remember 90 degrees!


Of course, grid systems have the benefit of having a much more organised public transport system. In Sydney, we don't really a metro here. Our only metro is in the CBD, and then everything else is outdoors. But everything has its black and whites. Some will argue that Sydney's version is better as you can see outside and feel less claustrophobic, others may argue Chicago's one is more efficient as a result of its organised-self. And I noticed its 90 degree angle via Google Earth sort of . So like I said previously, Chicago is a great example of grid planning gone well. But in a city like Los Angeles, I can't help but think how ugly it is; partly due to its grid system. I prefer something more left to the imagination as opposed to something completely artificially created.


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

Grid planning is associated by most people with 'modern'/20th century rational urban planning, but the lack of a city grid does not always detract from the overall layout of a city (w/ or w/o a skyline), IMO. Look at Kyoto, which was laid out originally in the form of the old Chinese grid system (ala Xian) and developed pretty much organically in the following centuries. I doubt that people would consider Kyoto ugly for this. I suspect that Sydney does not lose much with not having a well-defined grid system.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

ChicagoSkyline said:


> Just look at the aerial HK urban, is it really that organized? Just look at the kwoolon side, its residential highrises are practically EVERYWHERE! If you say that is organized, I would have to say that tokyo is way more organized than that!
> 
> The chicago transportation system that you found it bad is because it has been establish for such long history, image HK's transportation systerm some 50 years later,LOL! Trust me, chicago's major transportation infrastructures didn't born yesterday, they have been in operations for as long as a century!


Hong Kong's urban areas are organized with development along usable areas of flat land. The central business districts are organized around several streets and the new IFC development is an integrated complex of shops, offices, and a rail hub.










In fact, many parts of Kowloon follow a grid pattern because there is more flat land :










A grid pattern doesn't make a city more organized. Rather, concentration of services, land use patterns, and transport lead to an organized city. This is clearly the case in Hong Kong, where the commercial areas are very purely commercial while residential areas are quite distinct. Development is concentrated along several key corridors that wind around the landscape while adequate transit facilities reduce car dependency.

If you examine pictures of the typical North American suburb, including Chicago, then you'll notice there are residential lowrises EVERYWHERE. Only they are far more monotonous little houses that dot the landscape. Does that make a city more organized? Of course not. In fact, I'd argue it makes a city less organized because people have to drive their cars around courts and winding crescents to get to a main arterial road. Modern-day suburbs are no longer grid-patterned. The residential streets are curved and not well-connected to discourage outsiders from intruding the country paradise in the city.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

In terms of organized land use planning, Paris' La Defense and London's Canary Wharf come into mind.

La Defense is organized around a main pedestrianized axis with skyscrapers on both sides. At the end of this promenade is the Grand Arche, which points towards the Arc de Triomphe :


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## _00_deathscar (Mar 16, 2005)

Paris is a lovely city - I like it the way it is without the skyscrapers.


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## Khanabadosh (Nov 16, 2004)

Many european cities are beautifully planned. Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, Frankfurt and many other have great aerial views.


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## rocky (Apr 20, 2005)

from the picture it looks like they made chicago with sim city 2000


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

hkskyline said:


> Hong Kong's urban areas are organized with development along usable areas of flat land. The central business districts are organized around several streets and the new IFC development is an integrated complex of shops, offices, and a rail hub.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I know that HK's CBD are very organized because it occupy over some flat lands. but to say the whole HK metro is urban planning organized that you can clearly see it isn't. Kowloon is somehow trying to orgranized based on its districts but its overall area still look very unorganized in the sense that they just want their highrises use the best space available instead of giving it up for better traffic flows and urban layouts.

BTW, I never say the suburbs are part of city as you indicated! Suburbs have their own layout and they are certainly no urban in the sense that we are talking about urban planning and skyscrapers, bud!


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

hkskyline said:


> In terms of organized land use planning, Paris' La Defense and London's Canary Wharf come into mind.
> 
> La Defense is organized around a main pedestrianized axis with skyscrapers on both sides. At the end of this promenade is the Grand Arche, which points towards the Arc de Triomphe :


As far as Paris and London go, they both have a very well senses of urban planning and that I gotta agree with you. But don't forget that a good urban planning should also balance with its skyline so that we are looking at a city that isn't focus only on the horizontal aspect, but equally focus on the vertical aspect as well!


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

rocky said:


> from the picture it looks like they made chicago with sim city 2000


yea, I didn't clearly see it until I saw these *1996* aerials shots of chicago metro! I am hoping to see the updated version of these simcity translation of chicago aerial view again!


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## James Saito (Nov 6, 2002)

I'd choose Barcelona for the best urban planning, Paris closely second.
Chicago's planning may be efficient but uninteresting.


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

I present to you the SIMCITY CHICAGO:


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

James Saito said:


> I'd choose Barcelona for the best urban planning, Paris closely second.
> Chicago's planning may be efficient but uninteresting.


Do you have Barcelona and Paris urban layout aerial views? I love to check em out and compare with da Chicago school of urban planning with its vertical skyline!


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

ChicagoSkyline said:


> I know that HK's CBD are very organized because it occupy over some flat lands. but to say the whole HK metro is urban planning organized that you can clearly see it isn't. Kowloon is somehow trying to orgranized based on its districts but its overall area still look very unorganized in the sense that they just want their highrises use the best space available instead of giving it up for better traffic flows and urban layouts.
> 
> BTW, I never say the suburbs are part of city as you indicated! Suburbs have their own layout and they are certainly no urban in the sense that we are talking about urban planning and skyscrapers, bud!


Actually, even the suburban areas of Hong Kong are very well organized. The theme is a podium-based city, where residential skyscrapers sit on a multistorey podium with shops, services, and a transit link. This pattern is repeated across the narrow strips of land that are suitable for development, while richer people reside along the hilly areas with nicer views.

Within the traditional urban areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, this type of clustering is also more common, but the podiums are far smaller. For example, the ground floor is occupied by shops while residentials start on the first floor and up. There is a major reason why there must be a rational development scheme - because of HK's lack of available land, planners must scrutinze and conserve. While there are a lot of skyscrapers everywhere, the process of putting these on the land is extremely tedious, and is certainly not anywhere near random.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Barcelona has a very unique urban layout. The Gothic Quarter is chaotic with a lot of narrow alleys, but the Eixample district is a grid.










Notice the intersections are octagonal-shaped. The angled parts of the intersection serve as parking, which is quite ingenious.


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