Nature as Infrastructure: Exploring Nature-Based Solutions in Chicago
Communities everywhere must adapt to a changing climate. Today, cities are built using highly engineered ‘gray infrastructure’ that falls short in the face of extreme weather and other climate disruptions. Green infrastructure offers an alternative opportunity to rebuild natural connections and solve complex urban challenges.
What is green infrastructure?
Green infrastructure can be defined in many ways. The Conservation Fund defines green infrastructure as “intentionally structured and managed networks of natural areas, working landscapes, and other open spaces that preserve ecosystem values and functions while also providing benefits to human populations.” Unlike traditional built infrastructure to manage human impacts on the environment, green infrastructure recognizes the interconnectedness of nature and supports natural health.
The EPA shares many benefits that go beyond a simple infrastructural goal of diverting stormwater or remediating the environment; green infrastructure can also support native plant and animal habitats, expand access to green space, reduce infrastructure maintenance costs, and enhance property values in nearby neighborhoods. Green infrastructure is a great option for any city in search of healthy, biodiverse, and effective climate solutions.
Green infrastructure in action
The City of Chicago is a pioneer in green infrastructure, using nature-based solutions to mitigate flooding, reduce urban heat, and heal ecological landscapes. The following are just two examples of green infrastructure’s benefits in Chicago.
Green Alleys
This image shows a permeable alleyway in the Logan Square neighborhood. Water seeps through paved tiles into the earth, reducing the amount of runoff generated during rain events and supporting pockets of nature within this small urban space.
Chicago has the nation’s most extensive network of alleyways, stretching about 1,900 miles in total. Alleys are crucial paths for emergency vehicles, waste management, and other city services, but are also often low-lying and prone to flooding. During extreme weather events, alleyways fill up with rainwater and overwhelm storm sewer capacity. Chicago’s gray infrastructure, including sewers, pipes, and engineered retention basins, cannot withstand the increased rainfall predicted over the next century.
Green infrastructure offers an alternative to traditional methods of stormwater management. The City of Chicago has created a Green Alleys program to redesign 400 alleyways to incorporate green stormwater infrastructure. Permeable pavements and intentionally porous tiles allow water from rainfall to seep into the earth and be soaked up by the plant and fungal life within the soil. This keeps water from overwhelming the sewer system and supports small pockets of nature within dense urban environments.
The Wild Mile
Nestled into Chicago’s formerly industrial riverfront, the Wild Mile utilizes nature to clean the river’s water, provide a four-season community space, and build connections between Chicagoans and their river ecosystems.
The Wild Mile along the North Branch Canal of the Chicago River has creatively used natural solutions to rewild the riverbank. The Chicago River has a long history of pollution from nearby industries, transforming a beautiful natural asset into a hazard. However, innovative floating gardens have begun to heal the river habitat in Chicago.
The Wild Mile consists of several floating pontoons and submerged platforms of indigenous wetland plants and boardwalk, allowing Chicagoans easy access to the river itself. These plants are a habitat for fish and other river species endemic to the Chicago River and filter out harmful pollutants from the surrounding water. Humans can also enjoy the Wild Mile as a community space for citizen science, free yoga classes, and more. This ecologically sensitive park provides a model for riverfront cities worldwide who seek to leverage the power of nature to heal the environment. Green infrastructure at the Wild Mile builds strong connections between humans and nature, one pontoon at a time.
What can you do?
Green infrastructure supports humans and nature in the face of climate change. Anyone can take the following steps to advocate for nature-based solutions in their communities.
- Effectively communicate the economic, environmental, and social benefits of green infrastructure. Green infrastructure is often highly effective but can have a higher up-front cost than traditional gray infrastructure. Advocates for green infrastructure can be successful by learning from past projects and clearly articulating the multifaceted benefits of nature-based solutions.
– Explore the real-life experiences of local governments implementing green infrastructure at this link.
– Learn more about the benefits of green infrastructure by clicking on this link.
1. Steward green infrastructure in your community. Green infrastructure projects are most successful when they are cared for. Consider visiting and maintaining the rain gardens, bioswales, and other nature-based solutions in your neighborhood.
– Virginia Tech researchers have compiled a guide for community members to monitor, evaluate, and care for green infrastructure projects. Learn more here.
2. Integrate green infrastructure into your own projects. Nature-based solutions can start small. Chicago’s celebrated Green Alley program began with just three alleys in a pilot program, and even small rain gardens in your own yard can begin to heal the natural spaces around you. Think about ways that green infrastructure and natural spaces can be incorporated into your community’s parks, schools, and communal spaces.
Follow the EPA’s guidance for building rain gardens here.
RCC National Environment Leadership Fellow – Cassie Varrige – University of Illinois Chicago
Cassie is a second-year graduate student in the University of Illinois Chicago’s Master of Urban Planning and Policy Program, concentrating in environmental planning and spatial planning. She is a proud Midwesterner and passionate about planning cities that support the well-being of people and the planet. Cassie is a teaching assistant with UIC’s Urban Data Visualization Lab, supporting undergraduate and graduate-level courses in GIS and spatial analysis.
