Research from Northwestern University finds the drastic effects of 'underground climate change' in downtown Chicago

2023-07-18T11:44:00-04:00

“Underground climate change is a silent hazard,” he said. “The ground is deforming as a result of temperature variations, and no existing civil structure or infrastructure is designed to withstand these variations.”

NBC Chicago reports on research from Northwestern University Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Alessandro Rotta Loria and his findings on the effect of density and subterranean heat in the city’s downtown Loop, where temperatures have been shown to be 10 degrees Celsius higher than in Grant Park and another 25 compared to outlying areas.

Loria called the phenomenon “subsurface heat islands.” Chicago’s clay underpinnings are wilting under the change, causing a sink of up to 8 millimeters, or more than four times the 1 to 2mm sink found by researchers in Manhattan recently (Chicago also has a deeper bedrock). Preventative thermal upgrades must be enacted, and mitigating the effort will also require the use of heat recovery technologies, according to the study.

Aerial cable cars proposed for Chicago

2016-05-05T21:03:00-04:00

London Eye designers Marks Barfield Architects and Davis Brody Bond have created a new aerial cable car for Chicago. The plans, which are being sponsored by Lou Raizin and Laurence Geller CBE, have yet to gain approval from any official city agency, but in the meantime here are a few renderings of the gleaming cars gliding to and fro across the cityscape:

By cruising over the Navy Pier, the Chicago Lakefront, the Riverwalk running alongside the Chicago River, and downtown Chicago, the cable cars would "showcase an aerial vista of Chicago and its architectural heritage to the eyes of the world." The full video can be seen at the 26:42 mark of this much longer tourism presentation spiel:

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Research from Northwestern University finds the drastic effects of 'underground climate change' in downtown Chicago

Aerial cable cars proposed for Chicago