April 2002 | Editor’s Note
Chicago Means Green
Can Chicago become the greenest city in America? Mayor Daley certainly thinks so. To help him achieve this goal the mayor recently moved Bill Abolt, commissioner of the city’s Department of the Environment, to the job of Chief Management Officer — a position second only to the mayor’s Chief of Staff.
Many greening projects are underway, from solar roofs to rooftop gardens, to the thousands of trees the city has planted. In May, the Chicago Center for Green Technology will open on a formerly blighted site on the city’s west side.
Another great resource the city will use is William McDonough, perhaps the country’s preeminent architect of sustainable design. McDonough was hired by the city of Hannover, Germany in 1992 to develop a set of guiding design principles for the 2000 World’s Fair that Hannover hosted. The nine-point Hannover Principles McDonough and his team came up with were announced at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The Principles are widely recognized as the best expression of intelligent environmental design philosophy.
Now he will do something similar for our city. In about a month or so McDonough will come here to meet with local leaders in each of the three elements of what he calls a fractal triangle: ecology, economy, and equity. After these initial panel discussions, there will be working sessions to identify goals for the city and create metrics to gauge performance. McDonough and his firm, in collaboration with the city, will then draft a set of Green Principles for Chicago. These will be presented at a citizen’s meeting (or a series of meetings) to gain feedback and to make plans for implementation. The planning process is expected to take four to six months.
This won’t be the first time McDonough has worked with Chicago. His firm designed the 20,000-square-foot garden on the roof of city hall. This project, completed in July 2001, is expected to reduce energy costs by about $4,000 a year. It is an example and prototype for other green roof projects in the city.
McDonough’s firm also created the community master plan for Coffee Creek Center, a 640-acre residential development in the south suburbs completed in 1998.
Hiring McDonough is a great step toward becoming America’s greenest city. But much more can and must be done if we are to properly claim the title. Jim Slama polled Chicago’s environmental leaders and put together an eleven-point plan. We present this to Mr. McDonough as a guide he and the city may use as they develop Chicago’s Green Principles. Read it over and tell us if we missed anything.
Working together, we can help the city achieve its goal and really make Chicago live up to its motto "Urbs in horto," city in a garden. — Ross Thompson
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