I am growing to hate the urban development of those 3 decades (60's, 70's, 80's). Anytime I see something in Chicago that I don't like, I am not surprised to find out that it was built in one of those 3 decades.
Dearborn Park was built in the 70's. So were the Presidential Towers and that soulless parking garage at its base. Even McCormick Place's Lakeside facility was built then.
Then, of course, we have all of the freeways that pillaged their way into town.
The only exceptions I can think of are the John Hancock Tower, Sears Tower, and Aon Center. Yet individual skyscrapers weren't really a problem in that era. What seemed to lack in those 3 decades is that architects and urban planners seemed, almost with a hubris, to disregard human beings altogether--they seemed to think that the automobile was the revolution of the future. WHAT A MISTAKE!
Streeterville is probably the best example of a neighborhood that largely developed during this era, and it shows. Isolated, individual highrises with no concept of community. Only now, with new zoning laws, are new developments starting to correct this mistake.
On the flip side, can anyone say anything critical about a single development built before 1940?
Anyway, those are my thoughts. What do you guys think?> |
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