A Bold Plan to Swim in Chicago's Rivers by 2030

Chicago Mayor Rah Emanuel and the Metropolitan Planning Council announced the "Our Great Rivers" plan this week.

1 minute read

August 19, 2016, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Chicago River

Richard Cavelleri / Shutterstock

Good urban planning can make you smile," begins an article by Blair Kamin reviewing the "Our Great Rivers" plan, recently released by the Metropolitan Planning Council.

The 41-page plan "comes with a headline-generating goal," writes Kamin: "Make the now-polluted rivers so clean that people will be able to swim in them by 2030." 

Among the plan's "bold strokes," as described by Kamin, an idea "to create parks in rivers, not just alongside them":

Non-navigable stretches of the rivers, including the South Side's notorious Bubbly Creek and the north branch of the Chicago River east of Goose Island, could be remade into "instream parks" planted with wetlands vegetation and dotted with wildlife.

In addition to Kamin's review of the rivers plan, Leonor Vivanco provides a traditional news report, describing results of the 18-month planning process that produced "Our Great Rivers."

Wednesday, August 17, 2016 in Chicago Tribune

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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