- Population: 2,842,518
- Median home price: $245,000
The second city gets top billing as a metropolis with great access: Nearly every type of outdoor activity is within a two-hour drive. Deer Grove, just north in Palatine, offers trail options ranging from wide, semi-paved paths to narrow, technical byways for trail runners, cyclists, and cross-country skiers. Right in town there are 569 parks and 32 beaches.
Where Chi-town really sets itself apart is in its architecturally influential city center. “There’s no place else on Earth where the skyscrapers rise straight out of the water and form a downtown urban canyon,” says local kayaker Gary Mechanic, a third-generation Chicagoan. Showing the usual bombast and bluster of Windy City politicians, Mayor Richard M. Daley has announced plans to make it the greenest city in the U.S. Already, the lakefront is immaculate, 25,000 trees are planted annually, wind and solar power are in abundance, and one million square feet (92,903 square kilometers) of sky-high gardens are within city limits—more green rooftops than in all other U.S. cities combined.
Posted Sept. 18th, 2008 by Debbie Maue
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