Most of the people discussing Chicago are Chicagoans. We like having a relatively small number of threads to check, because that saves time when checking the forums and allows us to have open discussions with less fear of going off-topic.
I can speak for New Orleans, too... when we had a jumble of different threads, there were maybe three regular posters and I was the only person actually living in the city. After we centralized things into the City Compilations thread, we formed a robust community with 15-20 members who post regularly. Given the relative lack of highrise development, we usually feel free to discuss any and all forms of urban development including retail, parks, transportation, economics, etc all in the same thread.
It seems like New York by having a constellation of threads attracts a lot of people who are interested in updates but don't contribute to a larger discussion, either because they don't live in New York or because they are constrained by the narrow topic of each thread.
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la forme d'une ville change plus vite, hélas! que le coeur d'un mortel...
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