but your weather is just so bloody cold.

Chicago is trying to knock off its rust belt image and put on a new high tech suit. Given the universities in the area, Chicago's got pretty high human capital and hence has great potential in re-vamping itself into another mega-economic region and becoming a serious contender for an innovation centre against the likes of the Bosh-Wash Corridor and Silicon Valley.

But perhaps for all the standard reasons, Chicago hasn't attracted the same flight of human capital into the area as has the Bosh-Wash Corridor, the Silicon Valley area and the sun-belt.

Or rather, its not that Chicago has not been able to attract talent to come in, but it has trouble making it stay permanently i.e. temporary location to start-up, yes; permanent location to operate out of, no.

when i think about all the reasons why i would want to stay in a particular city, i myself have a few criteria in mind. economic opportunity, well-connected city, diverse population, good food, thriving city life.

looking for a place to live for me entails finding a space to really work and play.

its these reasons that make me speculate why Chicago may not establish permanence amongst the highly educated young singles. let's face it, we're social animals. its fine to go somewhere earlier in your career to work for a while. but in the end, when we want to settle, we want to establish communities. and maybe this actual face to face and hot mesh clustering of people is something that even the virtual social network can't begin to replace.

that, and the climate and airport is terrible

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