How Chicago Could Have Become a "Paris on the Prairie"
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- Опубліковано 4 гру 2019
- The 19th century saw Chicago go from a patch of wilderness on the American frontier, to a metropolis of over 1.6 million inhabitants. Although impressive, this rapid growth would prove problematic for the city, as it struggled to provide adequate infrastructure and public space. To adress this, local architect Daniel Burnham was asked to create a comprehensive plan for Chicago's development. In it, he envisioned a city of grand plazas, monumental civic buildings, and streets seemingly radiating into infinity - a Paris on the prairie.
Music:
"Mendelssohn: Six Songs, Op.34 - 4. Suleika"
- • Mendelssohn: Six Songs...
"String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 44 No. 1: III. Andante espressivo ma con moto"
- • String Quartet No. 3 i...
"Rêverie au bord de la mer, WoO"
- • Rêverie au bord de la ...
The world lost its magic when architecture became concrete boxes and asphalt roads.
You mean America.
@@xavier01110 Everywhere.
People: "I want beautiful architecture to come back."
Builders: "It will cost three times as much."
People: "Just build the ugly concrete box."
@@texaswunderkind why would it cost more, genuine question
@@egoxagony4623 because their lazy assess have to put in effort
i'll just have to live with telling myself that this city exists in an alternate universe...
It does. Barcelona google it, you welcome.
@@SportZone7780 LOL
@@SportZone7780 Wow, just… sad.
That city got nuked in the war
We could just tear down Chicago & build it like this
Saddened when I saw the overlay of the highway interchange over what could have been. People wonder why European cities are so nice and enjoyable, this is it! Design cities based on people, not cars!
Hi! It seems you know all about it, that is indeed key fact to improving city livability. You might find the channel ''not just bikes'' interesting. It's focused mostly on the Netherlands, but also some other European nations. It's from the perspective of someone who lived in the US and Canada, and his videos are really great at describing how and why cities that aren't car-centric are better.
The US is a huge country. Western Europe is half the size of the US. US cities
European cities are also much older. For most of their existence they had horse and foot traffic. US cities being much younger and more space to work with would obviously not look the same.
Geography and history are really important factors when comparing US and European cities.
@@wolverineeagle They are important factors but not the most important. Many European countries such as the one I live in: The Netherlands. Have had to make choices, many key points in history could have made it so that it would be pretty much identical to the US (except for the ugly grid patterns, which are also horrible from a mobility viewpoint) for example Amsterdam as we know it would be pretty much unrecognizable with huge highways and a car-centric society in mind.
But those nations or cities, along with a few outside of Europe (Portland for example as we're being taught during my mobility study) have made the decision to preserve certain things and to provide liveable space. Either through Transit-Oriented Development, which is an excellent way of reducing car dependency, to increasing traffic calming measures, or simply changing laws.
About that, let me talk about zoning laws. This is also one of the biggest differences. Here in the Netherlands, as is for most of western Europe, zoning laws aren't that strict. Shopping areas aren't just assigned to huge mall/shop areas, usually outside of the city centers, no, they're usually mixed. It's extremely uncommon in the Netherlands to live in a neighborhood that is say 10 mins walking away from a shop. This increases walkability, decreases the need for cars, and is generally higher in value (and because of the increase of people on the street, it's safer)
Yes, the US is bigger, but that's entirely not the point. The thing is really the way of thinking, the culture. You could implement some of the things we do over here, and some cities (with succes) do, but that doesn't change the national government or laws, it doesn't change the way people view certain ways of traveling. it doesn't incite investment or innovativeness.
The biggest issue isn't history either as is clear by now. There's this huge province we have here, the biggest artificial island in the world actually, and it's completely reclaimed from the sea in the 1950-1970's, you'd expect it to be car-centric but no, it's not. There are cars, but also seperate bicycle paths, with their own infrastructure and own bridges, there's a hirarchy in road structure and trains to connect places. My point is, even new areas are made in a different way with a strong focus on sustainability, liveability and durability. It's actually key focus over here besides.. you know, living below sea level (or maybe because of it)
Organized crime and Democrat policies have kept all of America from being better.
The homogenous societies of Europe and the demographics make it pretty nice too.
Burnham is literally the "you don't know what you're missing" guy of architecture and city planning. Today thousands of people lament the ruin of Manila because his plans were abandoned after WW2.
Why were his plan’s abandoned?
@@moneyivo7669 World War 2 happened. Nobody had money for anything.
plus the streets just… disappeared
@@raphgalban2007 which would have been the perfect opportunity to rebuild it. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, instead of an urban dystopia like it is now.
@@ROBOHOLIC1 You’re correct. The City Beautiful project could have happened if we were able to fix the stuff that the Japanese destroyed. But we didn’t fix it quick enough to prioritise that project. TLDR: The Japanese screwed us over, hard.
That would have been one hell of a city judging by the artwork.
Yup sadly the depression crushed everyone’s dreams like always
Much of this did happen. IMO, the most important parts did, such as the lakeshore and boulevards.
@@jeffburdick869 The lakeshore parks are the best feature of Chicago IMO. I really like the city and it was cool to see where the good ideas came from.
New York to me feels claustrophobic and gritty, but Chicago feels much more Open
That, and automobile lobbying for more roads everywhere
I take it you've never been to the Chi. It's one hell of a city. Just gorgeous and if the creator of this video had actually been to Chicago he probably wouldn't have created this video.
All of this planning and we got a fucking bean
lmao
Don't forget corruption and gangsters. lol
@@Fermifire you mean capitalism
we could still have the bean
The Hypothetical City could’ve had a Eiffel Bean
Daniel Burnham also designed a plan for Manila, to make it the “Paris of the Orient”.
Then again, never fully implemented, cars rule the streets there as well.
Definitely very sad not only is it no longer as beautiful it’s rejection in favor of the automobile industry to supply transit lead to mass amounts of carbon getting produced to this day and is one of the reasons why Manila looks so polluted truly was a visionary and he is kinda getting me to look into architecture
its not automotive industry killed its WW2. the favor and lobbying by automotive industry began in late 1940s even its implemented still shit and polluted because when Philippine got independence from USA and reconstruction of Manila after the brutal Battle of Manila became the most devastated cities alongside Berlin and Warsaw. the reconstruction is very decentralized compared to Tokyo which US is focused and McArthur offered the reconstruction its rejected the government at time because there is new capital at that time.
Japanese during WWII had a bit to do with that.
Manila got the short end of the stick in reconstruction even tho it's the 2nd most heavily bombed city in WWII
Haussman needed Napoleon III. Napoleon III needed Haussman.
Burnham didn't have a Napoleon III.
Architect: This spot will be where we build the 8th wonder of the world
City: Freeway intersection
It almost seems like the world has lost its magic. Nobody thinks this way anymore.
life feels worthless now, there's no magic anymore.
@@slaturwinters1828 You’re just not looking
@@stratdaddy Not really, here in Europe its the same....no one build anymore such Buildings
all of the hard work of our forefathers have been handed to savages with no reason to care about local history or beauty
I do but who cares about me
As a native Chicagoan, I feel that Chicago is beautiful as it is. However, it would've been nice to see this come to fruition. ESPECIALLY the railways..😩
We did consolidate the Railways a lot. Considering how much if it goes to Union and Olgilvie which are right next to each other.
They call it Chiraq for a reason...
@@cyberpimp29 Yes mostly because of spike in regional violence in 2016.
How could you say that the blocks of tall glass buildings and a sway of gigantic proportions of violence as “beautiful.”
@@cyberpimp29 no one calls it chiraq except for people outside of the city who think people call it chiraq
Detroit was once called the Paris of the Midwest. This was the later part of the 1950s early 60s . We'll we all know what happened to Detroit . There's still some incredible architecture there and history. Yes Chicago is incredible.
well*
@@NPC-vq3cl Do you sell items NPC #2302?
Chicago is incredible if you visit for a week or so - to live there is another story.
@@Christoph-sd3zi Nope still incredible. I love Chicago 😎 being downtown gets me pumped everytime and it’s crazy how you can be passing places where actors acted from movies or tv shows. lots of cultural places historic monuments
chicago is not incredible
Noone:
Burnham: How would you like to live in a fabulously grand mausoleum that stretches into infinity?
It looks like speers plans of berlin.
Hard pass.
As a lifelong chicagoan.
@@pahwraith ? Im not from Chicago but Speers plan and this Chicago plan seem great.
Also...
Liberace: Yes! YES!!! Why nobody ask *moi*?!???
@@pahwraith lifelong of how long? 20 years? You haven't a fig newton idea of the city, only its modern characteristics that warp what it once was.
@@artdecotimes2942 i was born in the 80s lol.
Try again.
Also i grew up in the city not the burbs taking the cta everyday.
Trust me. I know the city.
Once again, an incredibly interesting and high quality video. Hopefully the algorithm will pick you up soon, because you deserve more views than this.
Algorithm picked him up
@@cottontheeastercottontailr265 that it did
@@cottontheeastercottontailr265 yep
It did.
@Baylor Drew fuck off
It saddens me greatly that Burnham's vision never came to fruition. If it had, then, my God, Chicago would be THE most beautiful (to say nothing of monumental) city in America, bar none. You noted the Hausmann influence on the street layout, which obviously calls Paris to mind, but I even see inspiration from Rome and (in regards specifically to the harbor) even Carthage. I'm a firm believer in the Multiverse Theory and I'd like to think that, in a parallel universe or alternate dimension, this Chicago exists. Those designs are simply stunning.
Love it, I wish the plan would've been fully implemented, sad to see our cities look like shitholes. Very awful that they put a fucking intersection where Burnam's civic center was supposed to go.
I'm with you! I would have love to see architecture like this, my patriotism would have been sky rocketing through the roof by now. Architecture brings culture and brings humanity to our lives NOT concrete towers.
@@skeptical5727 sadly Americans have opted for libertarian patriotism where if you move a fucking brick your label’s as a commie it’s sad the Republicans are literally doing the reject humanity return to monkey meme
@@danielmoreno-gama5973 America was founded on libertarianism you hateful leftist pile of shit
@@danielmoreno-gama5973 libertarianism is not to blame
@@danielmoreno-gama5973 you libtards have to blame everything on Republicans, don't you?
“Paris on the Prairie”? Wouldn’t that be a “Prairis”?
bud dum tss
How you'd be pronounce it? With s or without s
@@MasonGreenWeed you would pronounce it "prayer-is"
I'm from Chicago, city proper, born and raised. I soooooooooo wish that this plan had been carried out!!!!!!
Thank you for posting this!! Excellent work!
I just love how the old skyscrapers looked like, with so many ornaments well placed and such beauty
I'll give him credit, he deserved that park in baguio named after him. This is CRISPY
are you also filipino? I really hope the manila plan was made.. so sad
@@gpaderx6105 ok lang me national museum naman e
@@rajavlitra atleast nasunod kahit konti
you'll give him credit lol
As seen in the video, Daniel Burnham also had an urban plan for Manila and Baguio City during the American occupation however, these plans didn't came into fruition, and only a segment was completed (Manila Bay Area, Rizal Park) thus the hodge podge of buildings and structures you can see in Metro Manila today.
This video makes me sad knowing that we don't have a city like this :-(
Every American city should have have this much thought and detail put into them.
I'm actually glad some of his stuff did not get implemented, like that terrible idea of diagonal city streets everywhere.
@@notsure8550 Yeah its awesome to see spaghetti highways everywhere instead.
Chicago, even not fully implementing Burnham's plan is still a beautiful city with the Lakefront and the Mag Mile. The city thankfully picked up a lot of his ideas and still continues to do so.
Chiraq
Stunning
Fascinating and insightful. Thank you.
Incredible work!
keep at it!
the quality of a work alone justifies its creation, applause is the day of rest which follows.
As a Chicago native, it’s better than a lot of other cities I’ve visited in America. We still have lots of parks and downtown is a nice mix of city and nature. Still I kinda hate this city now
Yeah, its really gone downhill the past decade. Massive political changes are needed to fix it but thatll never happen.
Chicago is still the most beautiful of the great US cities.
@@Chris-jq4ge Chicago has had a lot of ups and downs, but the corruption here is so deeply ingrained in the political culture (from its inception, really) I can't see a timeline in our lifetimes where your tax dollars actually do something. The past decade hasn't been so great, but neither were the preceding three either when compared to Chicago of the 50s and 60s, when the city could afford to be corrupt and still get stuff done. Now all the manufacturing is overseas and millions of dollars are wasted on suburban infrastructure that is way more expensive than traditional development, and the high taxes required to keep up this infrastructure are instead finding their way to the pockets of Mike Madigan and Co.
My favorite thing about Chicago is the variety of the housing stock. Only 25% of its housing is single-family homes which is far far lower than most US cities (my city is 60% s-f homes). Love all the duplexes, townhomes, small apartments of Chicago for how they make the city more affordable and foster the dense, vibrant and unique neighborhoods. Much of my city even though it has the address of the core city feels like a giant suburb thanks to the dominance of single-family homes.
I’d love to see Chicago build an outer loop elevated train line. It’s important for adapting to a post-COVID world where our polycentric cities, like Chicago, will better respond to office consolidation downtown. We need to directly link medical centers, universities, and other regional hubs without forcing riders to go downtown, embracing this polycentricity. Back in the early 2000s, the CTA studied a circular line or outer loop, but that vision needs to be discussed again in this pivotal time.
Chicago is miles ahead of nearly all US cities. I find Chicago inspiring, as an example of what is possible in the US. It's a jewel.
Thank you for covering the wonderful city of Chicago!
Chiraq
Great video, and thanks for providing such high quality plans and drawings. Really nice to see them.
First time seeing this channel in my recommendeds - definitely did not disappoint. Clear, succinct, great visuals relevant to the information, nothing superfluous. In the words of wise old man, "We will watch your career with great interest."
this deserves a lot more views!!
This video makes me feel both nice and pissed off at the same time.
man, i love ur videos! keep up the great work!
Wow! Really great video! Hope to see more urban planning history on the channel!
Impressive channel. I think the algorythm is finally pushing you up!
Yeah, the UA-cam gods have been benevolent recently :)
What? Why din't they go with it!? Chicago would have been so beautiful....soo sad...
The usual reasons, politics and money.
@@oldmanfromscenetwentyfour8164 :(
Still is a beautiful city
@@angelbonilla2255 with nothing to do besides a mirror bean, for a city it's size it lacks.
It’s because Americans hate when there government dose anything
I love how you link the songs in the description mate
Wow UA-cam algo is wild. This video is 2 years old and it's been at the top of my recommended for almost 2 weeks. It's an inspiring video non the less
This channel is a hidden gem
where has this kind of thinking gone? at least the past 80 years have been so depressing in terms of architecture and urban development.
@Quantum Passport haha I did not expect a proper answer but thanks dude, very insightful!
Which makes me want to ask you, any takes on Europe? I do get that for the US and their context, but over here we didn't really jump on that same train, yet we still have horrible buildings from the same time period, I do get the cost analysis point, but at least here in the UK, they still use bricks and wood a lot but still make ugly looking buildings xD.
To further my point, luckily in my hometown, new developments needed to be stylistically in line with early 20th and 19th century buildings, they are clearly made of different materials and are nowhere close to as as decorated as the originals, but they are way prettier than the disgusting 1970s apartment blocks that surround them! which I feel suggests you can actually have both functionality and aesthetics.
Which is what I am thinking of when I wonder "where has this thinking gone?", as in, when did we decide we had to decouple functionality from beauty in architecture?
I apologise for the short essay haha
A good chunk of it also probably has to do with everything being built up to the extent that it is already, you can't exactly go through and replan the entire street layout of a city of millions. Too many different owners, too many people, and too expensive. European cities that were more affected by WWII for example look a lot similar to American cities because a lot of them were almost completely leveled. A lot of it comes down to cost, just like how it's too expensive to redo built up American cities, there wasn't really a point redoing already built up European cities, except for in the cases where they were reduced to rubble.
Bauhaus school of architecture in Weimar Germany in 1930s through today. Go down the rabbit hole
You can thank cars.
Leftism and the autoindustry.
Your channel is so good I love it !
Thanks a lot :)
Excellent video! Very interesting indeed!
I wish his plan was adopted in full. An absolutely beautiful vision of the future that sadly never was.
I would love to see a video like this on Buffalo, NY in the future.
Well done. Thank you Kings and Things!
New subscriber, high-quality content.
The burhnam plan while not completely carried out is one of the great guiding principals for the city. Even today the lake front, navy pier, and tons of other parts still shape the city.
Seems like most of everyone's favorite parts of the city are the parts in line with the Burnham Plan.
Look at Singapore,a lot of aspects from the Burnham plan was implemented there.
I wish so deerly that the civic centre had been built. It has such a breathtaking and humbling look to it. A gargantuan monolith from one perspective but yet so stylish and elegant from the other.
Awesome Video 💪
Trés interessant et bien traité. Bravo
Ive always loved Chicago, in fact its probably my Favorite American city that I've been to. Its fascinating to see where the parts I loved came from, the Lakeshore parks really are the best thing.
Imagine what would have been if the whole plan had been used. Still, the best parts of the city draw inspiration from the plan. What a visionary design!
Michigan avenue sorta has these old vibes still
This channel is dummy underrated
Excellent video
excellent music choice!
Detroit could do this now. Those big swaths of empty land that used to be homes, should be a city planner's wet dream
I've thought about that as well ..you look at city shots from 50-60yrs back compared to today ...its mind blowing .
You still have to deal with the B****s
@@Christoph-sd3zi Lmaooo N-words in paris
You should do a video on Los Angeles' park system that could have been. LA could have had an emerald-necklace type park system that would span the entire basin, but was shut down by city officials when they found out the plan would include a park police system that would rival their authority.
Amazing channel
Excellent background music choice
Thanks again YT Algorithm, finally picked you up!
Really interesting video!
3:52 , Then the city builds a highway through it removing it from any form of public recreation outside of driving quickly on it.
5:52 broke my heart. I live in Chicago and after seeing that, its like I cant unsee it.
Never knew the Chicago lake front had butiful parks! Great video!
It still have beautiful parks
Has*
Incredible beautiful! I hope people will value beauty again one day.
The automobile and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race
Yeah, having a world that doesn’t conform to my standard of beauty is worse than improving the independence and livelihood of billions.
@@reesehendricksen269 Yes.
@@reesehendricksen269 yes because bulldozing a city to build a freeway = independence. The problem is you dear.
Great stuff.
subscribed!
As a Chicagoan I am sick to my stomach seeing this. This would have been very lovely to have in our city, and downtown could have still been downtown.
I currently live Chicago and loves it’s beauty however I wish Chicago had a city like this
This feels like a segment in a Wes Anderson movie. I love it.
This is why In Europe, cars are not allowed into or in some cases even near the town squares.
I love my city 💛 but while it does have one of the best and most extensive public transit networks in the US (which is saying a lot about the state of public transit in American cities), I wish there were even more means of transit. Something like the Vienna system of public transit; trains, trams, and buses all working in a highly efficient and extensive network. Also, transit systems that connect Chicago more with its outlying suburbs would be great in integrating the city and making it more accessible. I also think parks and public beautification, besides just aesthetics, can actually provide opportunities for communities to really take pride in their residences and could help with tourism and even crime somewhat, even if only marginally
Fascinating. This would be a superb project to build the proposed plan in Cities Skylines City Builder/ Simulation game
Perhaps apropos of nothing, but this reminds me of my grandma telling of a train trip to Chicago they took in 1933 and the famous large aquarium was already there. So obviously there had been a fair amount of construction, even with an eye toward tourism, in the twenties. (and no they weren't rich, that's why this vacation was so memorable. In fact my great grandpa lost his job early the next year and needed help to save the family house, which he got from an aunt of his.) My grandpa, This Woman's husband, also remembers a layover about 10 years later when he was coming home from the military and
Sorry, typing on my tablet and hit returned too fast. He spoke of how Lively the Theater District was even back then, and the fact that he watched the musical Oklahoma during his layover.
My grandfather Charles J Mulligan was a Chicago sculptor from the Columbian Exposition, he worked with the Chicago Beautiful movement.
That is exactly how cities should be designed
The city if Saskatoon, Saskatchewan up here in Canada is known as the "Paris of the Prairies".
That’s ironic, considering Canada already has Montreal and Quebec City for that 😅
@@GavinMichaels Not really considering Montreal and Quebec are nowhere fucking close to the Prairie.
Saskatoon does not look bad, but "Paris on the Prairie" is quite an exaggeration lol.
lollapalooza 2018 on the Friday of that weekend I tripped off a pretty decent acid dose and walking around the city gazing at the architecture was so god damn tremendous
Very cool, any plans to do Broadacre city?
I wanna visit the alternate universe where this Chicago exists.
É incrível como o urbanismo avançou tanto
E simultâneamente decaiu tanto......
honestly for all its beauty Chicago works out how it is now. I cant imagine my city without the loop.
UA-cam really wanted me to watch this video, Every time that I go onto my recommend tab this video is there Lol
Interesting to imagine what could have been, all the plans that were never implemented. I suppose in some alternate reality, these cities would look a lot different.
there's a reason why these architects took inspiration from european cities time and time again.
Because Europeans have an inflated egotistical sense of self importance and arrogance?
@@KanyeTheGayFish69 says american
I would love to see a game with a alternate map or Chicago showing the burnham plan
6:32 That's beautiful. How many of those skyscrapers have survived?
1:36 Is this district recognizable today?
The diagonal streets called for at 4:52 are the wave we need to still be on. The Grid is way too oppressive and large blocks aren't as walkable.
The World That Should Have Been.
David Burnham is one of my favorite architects.
Burnham's Manila masterplan can still be seen today. In fact, few of the masterplan's buildings is still standing upto this day.
Burnham's Manila plan was 20-50% laid out, it's most obvious in the Ermita and Malate districts. However, the farther you go from the downtown area, the less obvious it gets, especially the ones near the border to Quezon City because Burnham's Manila plan was shelved to prioritize creating and designing what soon to be, Quezon City, during the 1930s. The worse thing though, is WW2 ruined the pre-war structures in Manila, and most were never rebuilt again.
We could've had the Paris of the Prarie...
But we went with Chiraq
at first, i thought you were talking about Chirac, an ex président of ours and then discovered what it meant (chicago+irak), always that weapons problem, you have to adress that by the law, even the constitution
@@pandorski35000 weapons are not the problem as much as poor uneducated youth who idolise rap that talks about gang culture and crime instead of idolising people of merit. And let's not forget the all the family issues and coruption with is the city and there family's. Banning guns or banning knifes will never solve the issues.
@@maddog5284 I'm sure we will not agree on that and it's a possibility i accept, but for example in Europe, weapons are not easily accessible, morality : we have almost no casualties to deplore, when bad and/or stupid people want to use them, they just can't or illegaly and then they know what they're exposed to, so i really think the question of accesibility to weapons is at the contrary central
@@pandorski35000 No Switzerland has more weapons per person than us. We have a bad gang problem; guns are just the tool.
@@Ares_gaming_117 you know that it's due to the fact of the military service and men keep their weapons home, right ? they don"t buy them like burgers, it's a national duty
Meanwhile in Paris, it's a constant fight to preserve the shape of the city against greedy contractors.
Honestly, I live in Chicago and if you wanna see that civic center all you gotta do is go to the Bahai House of Worship lmao
It's not in Chicago proper.
ngl that looks really fun
Could have? It is. Chicago is easily the prettiest city in the US, probably all of the America's, and one of the most beautiful in the world.
It's full of soulless, modern architecture
@@Heisenberg882 I can understand not liking skyscrapers and modern architecture, but Chicago has the best modern architecture hands down. Lots of very inventive styles and technique. You sound like you're applying the valid real criticisms of other modern skylines (like New York) to Chicago.
Chicago would be much more interesting if it was designed to feel like a European city
Lived in Chicago all my life & just thinking wow all this structure's was here, its truly amazing! The golden statue & the Field Museum are the only two structure's that was preserved after the World's Fair.
There is a city today, known as the "Paris of the Prairies"; It's called Saskatoon in Saskatchewan Canada
A city fit for an emperor of America.
Hey its Micah. I had no idea you watched kings and things
@@mbathroom1 yes I do it’s very good content
We just need a competent mayor and guverner.
Emperor Norton seat is in San Francisco
I love the video; my question is about the narrative history. Out of all this, the only question I will ask is how did so many millions of people in this time have the means to visit this wonderful City?
The same way people have the means to visit places today.. they had a job which paid money, and they used that money to travel via boat or train
nice video! what software do you use to make it?
He said in a previous video that it is called the Kalergi Plan
Could you do a video of Christopher Wrens design for London after the Great Fire?