I’ve always been impressed by Chicago’s urbanism. Yes, the city of broad shoulders has more awesome old buildings designed by renowned architects than most cities have buildings total, but the fabric of the city impresses me the most. Over the years I’ve spent the most time on the city’s north side, and have found block after block and mile after mile to be walkable and interesting.

First of all, residential neighborhoods have sidewalks that line up with crosswalks in a continuous path (above). And people walk!

Any given residential street may have a mix of bungalows and two-flats

There are walkable grocery stores like Harvestime Foods on Lawrence Avenue

Train stations knit in to the neighborhood like Rockwell on the Brown (Ravenswood) Line

There are schools like Waters Elementary

Gazebos and populated playgrounds in the shadow of churches like here at Welles Park

Commercial streets lined with almost uninterrupted walkable retail frontage (in both old and new buildings) like Lincoln Avenue

And delicious urbanism like cappuccino and sweets at Julius Meinl

This was crossposted at Streets.mn