\n<\/p>\n
Chicago, September 16, 2026:<\/strong> The Morton Arboretum’s creative initiative, \u201cGreen City Rising: People and Trees Thriving Together,\u201d has been announced as a co-winner in the Horizon Lines: Visions for Chicago 2050 competition. The announcement was made by World Business Chicago on September 15 at the City Club of Chicago.<\/p>\n \u201cGreen City Rising\u201d imagines a future Chicago as an expansive arboretum\u2014a citywide network of green spaces where trees are at the heart of every neighborhood. The program aims to ensure that trees and nature play a vital role in Chicago’s community and economic planning by the year 2050.<\/p>\n Jill Koski, the President and CEO of The Morton Arboretum, expressed pride in the recognition, stating, \u201cThis honor underlines that \u2018Green City Rising\u2019 is about more than just planting trees. It\u2019s a vision for a city where both people and trees flourish.\u201d<\/p>\n Alongside the Morton Arboretum, the landscape architecture firm MKSK also received a co-winning spot for its vision \u201cWonderways!\u201d This concept seeks to transform Chicago\u2019s boulevards into interconnected climate-friendly spaces. Both proposals align strongly with Chicago\u2019s identity as \u201cUrbs in Horto,\u201d which translates to \u201cCity in a Garden,\u201d highlighting the growing importance of green spaces as crucial community infrastructure.<\/p>\n Selected from nearly 200 entries, \u201cGreen City Rising\u201d stands out for its approach to community involvement, envisioning tree-filled landscapes designed with direct input from local residents. These spaces aim to celebrate Chicago’s cultural diversity while promoting walkability and community gatherings.<\/p>\n Koski emphasizes, \u201cThis initiative builds on our existing community forestry efforts to ensure every neighborhood in Chicago can enjoy the advantages that trees provide. It\u2019s about resilience in the face of climate change and fostering jobs, health, and safety in our communities. But most importantly, we are focused on listening to the residents of Chicago to create green spaces that truly meet their needs.\u201d<\/p>\n The Arboretum plans to work with local partners, including Blacks in Green and Urban Growers Collective, to develop pilot projects for \u201cGreen City Rising.\u201d These partners have actionable ideas, such as a Community Resilience Garden in West Woodlawn and an urban tree nursery in Auburn Gresham, which has the potential to grow 10,000 trees each year to support community forestry initiatives.<\/p>\n Looking ahead, Koski mentioned that the Arboretum is excited to collaborate with various sectors to transform these projects into reality, focusing on areas most in need of greenery.<\/p>\n The Arboretum boasts a solid plan for executing \u201cGreen City Rising,\u201d drawing from its existing urban and community forestry program, the Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI). Since its launch in 2014, CRTI has partnered with over 500 organizations to enhance tree planting and care, distributing more than 10,000 trees across Illinois since 2022.<\/p>\n Additionally, the Arboretum is part of ArbNet, a global network that accredits arboreta. Currently, nearly 1,000 arboreta globally hold this accreditation, including many across the Chicago area, covering parks, corporate grounds, cemeteries, healthcare facilities, and universities.<\/p>\n As Chicago faces environmental challenges and shifts in demographics, the city’s future hinges on smart investments, like planting trees, which can enhance neighborhood stability and community strength over time.<\/p>\n \u201cChicago is the ideal place for a vision like this,\u201d Koski noted. \u201cIt builds upon the groundwork laid by past visionaries like Daniel Burnham, who understood the importance of green spaces for a thriving city. \u2018Green City Rising\u2019 continues this legacy and tackles today\u2019s urgent urban challenges related to climate change. Our future greatly depends on this thoughtful planning.\u201d<\/p>\n Visitors can view all six finalist proposals, including \u201cGreen City Rising,\u201d now on display at the Chicago Cultural Center until October 11, hosted by World Business Chicago.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chicago, September 16, 2026: The Morton Arboretum’s creative initiative, \u201cGreen City Rising: People and Trees Thriving Together,\u201d has been announced as a co-winner in the Horizon Lines: Visions for Chicago 2050 competition. The announcement was made by World Business Chicago on September 15 at the City Club of Chicago. \u201cGreen City Rising\u201d imagines a future<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[57328],"class_list":["post-43486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business-news","tag-morton-arboretum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}