Is Chicago becoming its own world?

Okay, I just got back from New York, and instead of launching into a discussion about Chicago vs. New York, I wanted to ask a question/comment about something. In other words, I'm going to ask a Edsg-style question . Before I do that, I just wanted to say that whoever started that thread about Chicago losing importance as a financial center must be insane--Chicago's all over the place as a business center, and the weight it throws around economically is just plain ridiculous Anyway, in New York I noticed a dense collection of skyscrapers that makes mankind feel like a puny little ant of no importance whatsoever. Sirens and horns echo as if you're in a narrow valley surrounded by cliffs. The only other place in the US I've ever been to that comes close to creating that effect is downtown Chicago. But when I went to New York, I got the feeling that there were these huge numbers of people who just lived in Manhattan like it was a world of its own. It has everything--restaurants, flower shops, blah blah blah to the end of the frickin earth. It's like a whole society, all subsets included, within itself, with a screaming mad subway system. Now when I think about Chicago, here's how I see it. There are a lot of people who live in the central area/north side hoods who live their lives almost completely in the city, and never venture into the burbs (or even to the south/west/or northwest sides, for that matter). However, this separation is not that strong, at least not as strong as it is in Manhattan, probably because Manhattan presents such a complete environment and such an encaging, enclosed space that you psychologically can't leave. With Chicago's current condo/skyscraper/townhouse boom, is this same transformation occurring here? Is New York just at a much later evolutionary phase than Chicago, and will Chicago ever become as isolated or "it's own world" from its hinterlands? What direction is the city's "transformation" taking?>