[emathias]

Originally Posted by aquablue

Chicago won't ever follow NYC's trajectory. The South is the future for business and population growth and the NE is safe due to historical/trade reasons and NYC's presense. Chicago needs to find a way to make itself an appealing destination for tourism I believe as the future of business is the South.

The South is growing for two reasons:

1) Still benefiting from the invention of inexpensive air conditioning.
2) Their economies are still relatively depressed compared to the rest of the country, meaning wages are lower. Far lower in some categories.

As the South develops, their wages will equalize with the midwest and they will have to try to attract higher-skill jobs at the same wage levels as the Great Lakes region. Tax differentials are not nearly as big as some people make them out to be. Weather is rarely an issue for industry. People are the biggest question in most industries, and transportation is a big issue for many industries. Chicago has great people and among the best transportation in the country.

Originally Posted by aquablue

I don't see it as an inernational hub of investment due to the winters. If it reinvents it's image, addresses South African style segregation and crime, and develops some 'sex appeal' based on some cultural developments, I think it will have a brighter future.

Chicago is already an international hub of investment. It is not in the same level as New York, but is is far bigger than you apparently know about due to your own ignorance.

When it comes to investment, crime is a regional question and the Chicago region crime levels are actually better than most other American cities, including New York.

Your comment about segregation is appallingly stupid. It's worse than just ignorant, it's flat-out stupid. So stupid, in fact, that it's insulting to the black South Africans who know what South African segregation was and is like. Chicago is NOT more segregated than New York. Statistically it is every bit as integrated as New York and more other industrial Great Lakes cities. The kind of racism and segregation in South Africa is nothing like what happens in any of the American "Rust Belt." It's appalling that you would compare them and reeks of your own prejudice and idiocy and ignorance about the history of South Africa.

Originally Posted by aquablue

Cultural, artistic, etc is a good way for a city to become vibrant and reinvent itself. Great architecture can help, look at Bilbao. So, become hipster I suppose. Copy Brand Brookyn, etc.. Everyone loves a good hipster town.

Chicago is far, far more than Bilbao ever will be. Being "heard of" like Bilbao is hardly a problem Chicago needs to solve.

Parts of Chicago are very hipster. Chicago could use more more contemporary architecture of note, although it has enormously important and relevant historic architecture, which is well-known around the world among people who like architecture for more than just seeing the latest flash.

Culturally, Chicago arguably has museums that, in the U.S., put it behind only New York and Washington (due to the national museums and Smithsonian) in importance. The Art Institute has vast, important collections. The Field Museum is one of the most important museums of natural history not only for its collection but for the role it plays in research. The University of Chicago is very important in sociology and archeology and, of course, economics. The Museum of Science and Industry is possibly the best of its kind in the U.S. There are dozens of lesser-known museums that are very good in their space, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Dusable Museum - one of the premier museums dedicated to African-American art, the National Museum of Mexican Art, the Ukrainian National Museum, the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, the Smart Museum, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium, the Museum of Surgical Science, the Oriental Institute, Chicago History Museum, National Hellenic Museum, Spertus Institute, Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Museum of Broadcast Communications, Museum of Leather, and many others.

There are also non-museum cultural attractions, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which is one of the best orchestras in the world - just ask any fan of classical music or professional classical musician, the Civic Opera, the Garfield Park Conservatory, the Architecture Foundation, the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, the Steppenwolf Theatre, the Joffrey Ballet, Gerber/Hart Library, Newberry Library, Pritzker Military Library, Hubbard Street Dance.

This is just a partial list, but many of those institutions are leaders in their categories and internationally known.

I rent a guest room to visitors. I've had 300+ guests from 36+ countries in the past 4 years, and most of them know more about Chicago than Al Capone, Michael Jordan and deep dish pizza. I mean, how much does the average American know about Berlin or Moscow? Or Shanghai or Sydney? Chicago already has an enormous number of tourists every year, and is rapidly growing the space by directly reaching out with marketing both domestically and internationally. In business and academia, it is well-known and well-regarded. New York has more critical mass, but Chicago is no light-weight and has nothing to apologize for, given that it has between the 4th and 8th biggest GDP of any metro area in the world, depending on who's doing the measuring.