Big City Sustainability : CHICAGO
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The Mayor of Chicago is Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J Daley, the former larger than life mayor of the city who cast a long shadow and left big shoes for future mayors of the city. His son however, has plans to fill those shoes with an environmental plan that will make Chicago a model of big city sustainability. Mayor Daley commissioned the Chicago Department of the Environment; a large agency with broad environmental mandate and divisions that include: Natural Resources and Water Quality, Urban Management and Brownfields, Redevelopment, Permitting and Enforcement, and Community Programming and Education Outreach. In 2009, the DOE in cooperation with Julia Parzen of Urban Sustainability Associates, and The Center for Neighborhood Technology published the Chicago Climate Action Plan ( CCAP). The guide is a comprehensive environmental resource for the citizens and businesses of Chicago regarding energy, green building, transportation, energy use, infrastructure, and resource management. Mayor Daley uses the bureaucratic web of the DOE and guidelines set by the CCAP to test sustainable systems and ideas using city properties and resources. The three areas that the city wants to focus on is green building construction and retrofitting, storm water runoff and urban heat reduction, and attracting green business’s to set up shop in the windy city.
Chicago’s skyline is famous for being dense with skyscrapers, most notably the Sears Tower, the former tallest building on earth. Construction is seen as one of the city’s most valuable assets and the buildings that arise from that should be efficient and sustainable models for 21st century form and function. Since 2004, all new Chicago municipal buildings have been constructed to meet LEED Certification. City buildings that undergo renovation must also meet LEED standards. 70% of greenhouse emissions in Chicago are due to energy usage in buildings, 61% in the metropolitan area alone. The municipality uses community programs and government incentives to help residents implement sustainable systems to their homes and neighborhood buildings to improve energy efficiency, reduce storm water runoff and urban heat. The biggest example of green building is the 20,000 square foot green rough on top of city hall. The city hall building kicked off the cities Green Roof Project. The Green Roof Project has led to more than 80 green roofs in the city totaling more than 2.5 million square feet of green on top of the city. The city provides $5,000 in green roof instillation grants for small scale commercial and residential properties. The city also has a Green Alleys Program that installs permeable pavement in residential alleyways and encourages residents to disconnect downspouts, install rain gardens, and use rain barrels. The reason why Chicago is so concerned with its run off is due to its combined sewer overflow system which was constructed in 1856. The system combines storm water runoff and waste water that flows into the Mississippi river. Flooding of the system has been a source of city contamination for decades. The city has implemented the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP) in stages over the past twenty years, and it will be completed in 2019. When completed the tunnel will store runoff and sewage until it can be sent for treatment instead of being sent out into the city. 58% of the city is covered by impervious surfaces. Creating a green canopy by planting more trees and creating more porous surfaces reduces water runoff and “urban Island” heat and increases energy efficiency. The city also wants to be the nation’s headquarters for green technology and business. The DOE is used as an incubator for new green ideas and the city uses tax and other incentives to lure green tech companies to the city. The windy city is home to fourteen wind company headquarters which makes it the largest hub for wind technology in the world.
Chicago’s plans for urban sustainability are no more or less ambitious and complex as any other big cities plan. The city uses its vast municipal resources to research, plan and implement a host of sustainable systems that range from simple tips to help residents become more efficient, to big municipal systems created to improve existing structures and make sure future structures will be “sustainable” over time. It’s hard to find an argument against Chicago’s (or any cities) plans for sustainability on paper. The only way to see how Mayor Daley’s plans are unfolding is to visit the city itself. Researching articles and reading the official city papers gives you a sense that everyone is on the same page and all is equitable in Chicago’s quest for a greener future, however, the city’s history of ethnic segregation, shady municipal politics, and big egos more than likely has a stronger hand in the process than anyone would dare to say.
Bibliography
The City Of Chicago Department of Environment, “Chicagos Guide to Completing an Energy Efficiancy & Conservation Strategy” The City of Chicago 2009 Web jan 19 2011
Web pages: www.CHICAGOCLIMATEACTION.org
www.roosevelt.edu/ETS/Sustainability Studies
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