Click here for info on the 2020 Chicago River Summit

Making Space: The Value of the Blue/Green Corridor

Thursday, Mar 14, 2019 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Leaders around the world are starting to understand that sustainable cities are resilient ones. Urban centers as diverse as New Orleans, Montreal, and Singapore are investing in blue/green corridors of land and water for the multiple benefits they deliver. 

At their foundation blue/green corridors connect open space, creating places for people to play, wildlife to travel, and land to absorb and filter rainwater. The positive impacts also include social benefits, economic benefits, and a multitude of environmental ones by creating wildlife habitat, reducing combined sewer overflows, and linking important ecosystems. In the face of climate change and the pressure from urban development, it is critical that blue/green corridors are established, enhanced, and protected to benefit people, plants, animals, water, and our quality of life. With 168 miles of existing trail near the river-edge, over 32,000 acres of publicly owned open space within a half mile of the water, and the growing realization that the Chicago River system is of value to us all, opportunities for a healthy and accessible blue/green corridor abound. 

How do we protect our riverfront corridor? Who do we need at the table? What best practices already exist that will help us understand how we can protect our land, connect our communities, provide safe space for wildlife, and create a resilient region? Come find out as local and national experts explore the value of blue/green corridors and how to create them.

Speakers include:

• Liza Lehrer, Assistant Director, Urban Wildlife Institute at Lincoln Park Zoo
• Betsy Daub, Conservation Director, Friends of the Mississippi River
• Beth White, President and CEO, Houston Parks Board
• Andy Donakowski, Policy and Planning Specialist, Friends of the Chicago River
• Horacio Martinez Michel, Mechanical Engineer, Arcadis Arcadis North America

Please contact Andy Donakowski, policy and planning specialist, at (312) 939-0490, ext. 15, or adonakowski@chicagoriver.org for more information.

Tickets are available here.  Registration begins at 11:30 a.m.

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