Chicago, Illinois, USA

“Our challenge is to create truly regenerative cities, designed to restore the natural environment in concert with urban development and growth,” states Doug Voigt, Partner, Urban Design and Planning, SOM

Doug Voigt and his design team at SOM have created a new 17-acre floating eco-park called “The Wild Mile”—a new environment for habitat, education, and recreation on the Chicago River.

The community-led vision of renewed urban ecology helps strengthen neighborhood connectivity, generates cleaner water, and supports more vibrant ecosystems.

The project is located along the east side of Goose Island, on the North Branch Canal and Turning Basin. 

This area has been envisioned as a type of eco-park since the creation of the 2003 Chicago Central Area Plan. 

In 2016, Urban Rivers and SOM installed a 1,500-square-foot floating garden as a first step toward making the Wild Mile vision a reality. 

Since then, the project has evolved into a collaboration with the City of Chicago, O-H Community Partners, Near North Unity Program, Omni Ecosystems, Tetra Tech, and local community members providing input central to its goals, objectives, and priorities.

Making the most of its proximity to more than 40 schools and academic institutions, the Wild Mile incorporates rich educational and community programming. 

These include a volunteer-led and technology-driven initiative, River Rangers, which recruits “citizen scientists” to document and provide regular reports on reintroduced plants and wildlife.

When completed, the Wild Mile will transform the formerly industrialized, human-made branch of the Chicago River along Goose Island into an eco-park that serves people, wildlife, and the environment. 

With a series of floating gardens, forests with public walkways, kayak docks, and other amenities, the project is designed to restore the river as a public trust.

Project: The Wild Mile
Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP.
Lead Architect: Doug Voigt
Collaborators: Omni Ecosystems, O-H Community Partners, TetraTech, Near North Unity Program, and Urban Rivers
Photographers: Dave Burke