Liz Danzico says there are five different New Yorks, each with it’s own perspective and attitude. The fifth is the only one that really matters, though. She writes:

Fifth, there is the New York of the man or woman who looks at the city each day as a miracle. Looks at it each day as a thing we’re getting for free, something that shouldn’t be, something that might not. But is. It’s here. And we get to be in it. Get in it. Be down in it, blotting out the mess, the light, the heat, the delays, and get the surprises. Sweeping up the past, running with strangers, ducking the fairs, in silence together. Fifth, is she who sees the magic that is the city, knowing that it never should work, really. But then it does. And she chooses it as her home.

I had written a nice long response to this, but I couldn’t put it any better. Suburbs are static. Cities are dynamic. When I’m in Chicago I get this same feeling, a feeling of being a part of some larger network, something that isn’t controlled by any one entity. Everyone works together, purposefully or not, to make it all function. The stoplights, the honking horns, the steam coming up from the sidewalks: they’re all part of the lifeblood that makes any city go. Together, they make up the character of a living, breathing creature that can only be felt.

Update: Thanks for the video, Dan.