Archinect - News

Chicago could become site of the Great Lakes' first offshore wind farm

2022-09-10T09:00:00-04:00

If state Rep. Marcus Evans has his way, Chicago will enter the race to build the first offshore wind farm on the Great Lakes. Evans has introduced a bill that lays the groundwork for a proposed wind farm in Lake Michigan, about 10 miles from the shores of the Southeast Side. The bill sets up a fund that would help the state to compete for federal money, including $230 million for port infrastructure projects available from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Evans introduced the bill, the Illinois Rust Belt to Green Belt Pilot Program Act, in January. The legislation would establish a path toward creating the offshore wind farm by allowing the state to apply for federal infrastructure funds. The proposal promises to create over 1,200 jobs, primarily occupied by underrepresented populations, an aim bolstered by its potential location near Black and Latino communities. The bill has since been referred to a House committee.

Illinois will face competition from Ohio and New York state in its quest to be the first home of an offshore wind farm via the Great Lakes as the two states are developing plans to respectively establish farms in Lake Erie.

As reported by the Chicago Tribune, the initiative has garnered support from local community groups, however, there remain reservations due to concerns over whether the promise to reserve jobs created from the...

Extreme shifts in Lake Michigan water levels due to climate change are putting Chicago at increased risk

2021-10-27T17:33:00-04:00

The Great Lakes are often called the nation’s third coast, and the past five years in the region have been the wettest on record. While the lakes don’t exactly correlate to rising sea levels, Chicago now sits in just as precarious a position as oceanfront cities. Heavier rainfall and more frequent droughts are now causing extreme swings in the water levels of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, wreaking havoc on the city and prompting urgent action to find a fix.

Climate change is having an increasingly marked effect on Chicago, which sits right along Lake Michigan and is dissected by the Chicago River. CNBC highlights the growing risks the city faces as one that is so vulnerable to its surrounding water bodies. In the winter of 2020, Lake Michigan reached a record high in water level due to intense rains that caused the Chicago River to overflow into downtown. The rainfall was so severe that the city’s system for reversing flooding didn’t work because the water level of the lake was higher than that of the river. Experts say this wasn’t an isolated event.

On the other end of the spectrum, seven years before the storm, the water in Lake Michigan hit a record low due to a prolonged drought. This threatened Chicago’s water supply as well as shipping.

To mitigate the impacts of heightened water levels, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, following the 2020 flooding, installed concrete barriers along parts of Chicago’s shoreline. Additionally, a...

Great Lakes Hyperloop System wins House support for Cleveland-Chicago route

2019-07-01T14:03:00-04:00

Technology that would connect the cities of Cleveland and Chicago via a 30-minute commute inched closer to reality this month as a national transportation and housing appropriations bill passed one federal hurdle. Five million dollars in initial funding for the Great Lakes Hyperloop System, an experimental high-speed transportation project, was included in legislation voted on by the U.S. House of Representatives in late June.

Kim Palmer reports for Crain's Cleveland: "The passage of the 2020 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriation bill by the House provides the funds for the U.S. Department of Transportation to create a regulatory framework for development of a hyperloop system."

Prototype of the Hyperloop passenger capsule, unveiled in October 2018. Image: HyperloopTT

"The first route studied on the Great Lakes Hyperloop network will be Cleveland to Chicago in 28 minutes," states Great Lakes Hyperloop on its website. "With over 3 million journeys annually, Hyperloop could save travelers 13 million hours each year. Cleveland boasts the largest economy in Ohio with over $120B in annual GDP. Chicago is the 3rd largest metropolitan area in the US bringing in $600B GDP per year."

The U.S. Senate is now next in line to vote on the bill.

Case studies in water management from Los Angeles, the Great Lakes, and NYC

2015-04-13T14:41:00-04:00

The issue of water supply in the context of climate change was the topic for the recent 5KL: Water symposium, organized by The Architectural League and The Cooper Union Institute for Sustainable Design. Twelve experts in water resource design and management — from architects to geographers to former government officials — addressed the carbon intensity of providing a clean and adequate water supply and how design and planning can contribute to that goal.

Toward A Vision — The Great Lakes Century

2012-03-28T14:12:00-04:00

The Great Lakes Century is a pro bono initiative of SOM's City Design Practice. We found dozens of important efforts to clean and protect the Lakes and the St. Lawrence, but no comprehensive vision for their entire ecosystem. So we did what we do: took a comprehensive look at the natural setting, how unenlightened human hands had messed it up, and then created a set of strategic principles – to begin a broad-based, bi-national dialogue (which we had never done before).