I'm not familiar with what Chicago did, but from my past experience living in Vancouver I'd say you can have your cake and eat it too.
Much of the public space in the false creek area (Yaletown etc...) was paid for by Concord and other developers in exchange for density allowments and other concessions. The city assisted (or mandated) the design, but from what I understand much of the funding was borne by the developers. Of course the costs eventually get passed off to the consumer in the form of higher unit prices, and the city in lower land prices, but it is a way to find a common ground between wholesale land dumps to developers, and expensive city beautification programs.
The end result in Vancouver was a cohesive, walkable, albeit somewhat homogenic neighbourhood, at a minimal cost to the city and great benefit to its citizens.
Quote:
Originally Posted by osmo
I remember somebody on this board bringing up the same effect PATH has in Toronto. It keeps a lot of the hustle and bustle that would going on outside on the street trapped, and hidden.
They should close Plus 15 down in the summer? force people outside.  But i'll admit I'm not terribly familiar with this system though, is it strictly just walk-ways or are there shops and services integrated within them also? |
That's the reason Vancouver actively discourages underground pathways, hence the city is left with a fragmented system of disconnected concourse levels. It is definitely a positive in the summer, but there are some rainy winter days where I just remember cursing the decision as I ran across the road trying futilely to shelter myself from the rain with a soggy newspaper.