Distillate?

Thought-provoking observation from Chris Arnade, who knows lots of places:

If a foreigner asks me which single US city to visit to understand America, I would say Chicago. LA/SF are coded as an Asian city, NYC/Boston European, Miami Latin America, but Chicago is very much an American city.

Caught my attention since I’m thinking about cities and architecture lately. I visited Chicago a couple times, and of course I’ve seen loads of pictures. For sure it’s less international than the coastal cities, but it doesn’t represent or distill America. Chicago has its own unmistakable appearance, not representing anywhere else. Any random picture of a Chicago neighborhood shouts CHICAGO, not AMERICA.

Among the places I know, KC is a much better distillate. There isn’t an instantly recognizable KC look. It has bits of Chicago, Toledo, Dallas, Detroit, Santa Fe, and in recent decades hi-tech Seattle.

The only instantly recognizable KC architecture is invisible, The SubTropolis industrial and shopping center.