Chicago - a city of plazas?

I love plazas. I love hanging out in plazas, spending time reading a book, or drinking coffee, or observing other people, or chatting with a friend.

I often associate the social and design elements of a good plaza with European cities, so I've never really thought of Chicago as a city with good plazas. But a walk around the Loop and along the Chicago River yesterday made me reconsider some of the great public spaces downtown.

As spring unfolds, more should be said about Chicago's plazas. And Miz M will say it! The Valve Blog will bring you some descriptions of local plazas, including descriptions of seating areas, plantings, water elements, how people use the plazas, and where they are located. So stay tuned -

Today I visited the plaza at the Board of Trade.
Things that make it nice:

• Working fountain
  
• Large number of orange and yellow tulips in many bench-type planter boxes, and a number of shade trees
  
• Signifcant width of plaza that lets sunlight into some areas
• Many people
• Relatively clean - no garbage in seating areas
  

Things that suck about it:

• Smokers
• People talking business on their cell phones
• People wearing those trader jackets
• Bench seats are not very comfortable for more than quick lunching