[Mr Downtown]

Initially I was quite positive (about everything except the name). Now I'm having second thoughts about the urban design aspects. We know that urbanism works best when big sites are broken into small parcels with a traditional street-and-building framework. What these renderings show is an architectural free-fire zone of objects in an overscaled landscape, à la Pudong or Isle of Dogs. Of course, no buildings have actually been designed, but the master plan should impose more discipline than this one does.

If we want a new Chicago neighborhood, we have to cook with the right ingredients. I think the site needs smaller blocks, and a kit of parts or pattern-book drawn from traditional Chicago urbanism that would guide designers of the buildings.