While not enough to leap the hurdle, what I like about big cities like Chicago is how spread out they are. That helps grow subcultures. And while land mass doe

While not enough to leap the hurdle, what I like about big cities like Chicago is how spread out they are. That helps grow subcultures. And while land mass doesn't create them, it does provide psychological space. A large (but not too large) space matched with good weather and transportation is perfect for cross breeding. You need to carve niches, ask evolution. I realize a small city can grow a larger one, but some are too limited by location, but I'm not hip to which. And you want startup cultures. Every city thinks they have a music scene. In some cities that's arenas, in others, ad-hoc clubs. You want rebels. But you want them in the outskirts not the capital. That comes later; it's demoralizing early on, save coup d'etats. The problem with cities like New York (and Boston) is they have bad habits. Like human habits, they're mini-traditions, they give us expectations, then meet them. The set up is the comfortable feeling. But like candy bars, they taste great in the short run but kill you in the long. And they're addicting. Boston's addiction is college, and New York's finance (and media). Those industries are going into permanent introspection within the next few decades. That's a while off, but it's still a bad play to have the next big thing near the really big thing it's going to outmode. Media is badly wounded, but finance and education are still on their tour of duty. R&D and education are going to split eventually, and finance is just starting to get shaken up. There is vitality to sap, so I think we're too early for official sanction. You set up the pins, we knock them down; That's a political game. We might avoid this with a rich patron. A rebellion can start with a dissatisfied insider. And don't underestimate the second-rate mentality. I felt it as soon as I moved to Boston; And you can tell through the baseball fans. In New York, no one hates the Sox until they come to town. In Boston, they hate the Yanks year round ... and breed children to. It's surprising how far behind the runner up can be. Another thing is that in New York you may have to look around longer to get a sense of everything, but in Boston, it's harder to abstract away the details. The city doesn't have to be that as huge. But we're looking for tightness; muscularity, not fat; Quality not quantity.