Chicago, Illinois

Chicago is attempting to transform itself from a blue-collar industrial city into an exemplar of green urbanism. With a history of large-scale environmental change as a result of urban activity, the city has established several programs within the last decade aimed at reducing its environmental footprint by considering the built environment more carefully. Although criticisms exist of the focus on environmental and economic, rather than social, sustainability, Chicago has gone beyond mere aesthetic improvements in its attempts to change the relationship between humans and the environment within its urban context.