The Vessel at Hudson Yards this past June | Getty Images for Rafanelli Event

Related has made its name with oversized, transformative urban projects. But are these projects in cities? best interest" Nearly everything about The 78, a massive redevelopment project reshaping an abandoned 62-acre parcel just southwest of Chicago?s downtown, is big. Vacant for 90 years, the riverfront property will be transformed into space for 24,000 workers, new corporate campuses, a high-tech research center, and 12 acres of riverfront parkland after an expected $7.2 billion construction process. Even the name screams outsized ambition: The city currently has 77 designated community areas, or neighborhoods, with this project gunning to be the latest added to the list. ?It?s the biggest thing I can think of in Chicago for years,? says Whet Moser, a Chicago author and urbanist. ?As part of the return to the city and movement of companies back downtown, there?s a good reason to expect that you can sell that space to corporations, and all the stores and services and housing that come with having so many people working there.?
Like other big American cities, Chicago is experiencing a wave of megadevelopments: large-scale, mixed-use, multibillion-dollar projects. Lincoln Yards and the renovation of the Michael Reese Hospital endeavor to harness the desire for urban living to create new neighborhoods from scratch. And, like similar projects in other big cities, The 78 is being handled ...