The Windy City

I just got home from a week in Chicago (which capped off the end of our US ethnography research - yay!). Every time I go to Chicago, I realize how much I really like the city. It has such a different vibe than New York. As you walk down the street, you see people walking together, talking together. Colleagues and friends are huddled together, scurrying off to lunch. Other groups are standing outside, giving hugs and kisses goodbye or hello.

New York is so different - no groups of people, no hugs and kisses. Just people alone, scurrying off to lunch by themselves. No one looks at you. There's really no relationships, at least in the street, like there are in Chicago.

What gives a city it's own vibe? How is it that each city has it's own trademark, it's own personality? How does that get started, and how does it perpectuate itself? Is it a cycle, where once the vibe is established, it attracts people who enjoy and seek out that environment? But there's got to be more to it than that, because people move to cities for jobs and families, external reasons besides being attracted to a lifestyle.

It reminds me of a house smell, in a way. Ever notice how different houses have different smells? And even when you move into a new house, eventually, it'll take on your smell. You can identify people by that smell. How does that smell get started and what contributes to it? And despite bringing more stuff into the house, or having more people in a house, the same smell lingers.

I like Chicago. It's vibe, it's personality, and yes, it's smell.