Description
Location: South Side, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Funding: US Environmental Protection Agency, Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, US Army Corps Great Lakes Fishery and Ecosystem Restoration Program
Landscape Architects: Heritage Landscapes LLC, Vermont, USA
Project Purposes: Historic park redesign in the style of 1895 Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot plan, while integrating ecology, native species and habitat and addressing degradation to improve pedestrian access, scenery and send of safety to uplift this urban park. This work addressed five ecotones enriching species while recapturing historic character. The project team, a partnership of a private NGO, Chicago Park District and US Army Corps, combined ecological restoration, social inclusion, and historic preservation expertise to restore the park landscape and aquatic habitat and ecological processes, and upgrade resilience, adapting to the climate emergency.
The park landscape, in a lower income diverse neighborhood, was derelict and perceived to be unsafe. Aspects of UN Sustainable Development Goals 3-10-11-13-14-15 were addressed to renew a valued public landscape, welcome user by opening views, reconnecting and extending walking routes and shaping lagoon overlooks to encourage inclusive, positive uses through beautiful scenery, vitality of plant and animal life and an increased sense of personal safety. The outcome is a welcoming park for all life with historic character, ecological functions, user connectivity and beauty achieved.
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