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Pullman factory to feature rooftop greenhouses, solar panels, wind turbine

Posted on March 6, 2014 //

by QUINN FORD, DNAinfo Chicago, March 4, 2014

Rendering of the factory Renderings: William McDonough+Partners Source: www.chicago.curbed.com

The factory will include a wind turbine, solar panels and rooftop greenhouse
Renderings: William McDonough+Partners
Source: www.chicago.curbed.com

Construction on an environmentally-friendly manufacturing plant is officially underway on the city’s South Side.

Method, a company which boasts natural, nontoxic cleaning products, held an official groundbreaking ceremony for a $33 million plant being built in the Pullman neighborhood.

The plant, which was announced in July, is scheduled to open early next year and will be the company’s first manufacturing facility in the United States.

The company was lured to the South Side neighborhood in part by $9 million in city Tax Increment Financing funds as well as $1.1 million in state tax credits over 10 years.

The project will evenutally create nearly 100 jobs in the area once the factory is complete. Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) said the plant will provide a big economic boost to a neighborhood originally developed as a factory town.

“There hasn’t been a manufacturing company on the South Side in the city of Chicago for almost 30 years,” Beale said, prompting applause.

The plant’s plans call for a 230-foot wind turbine and solar panels that the company said will meet half the plant’s energy needs. Plans also call for greenhouses to cover the building’s roof, which company officials said will be rented out to vendors to grow fresh fruit and vegetables.

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Wrigley Field’s planned renovation threatens a Chicago rooftop tradition

Posted on September 9, 2013 //

by CLAIRE SUDDATH, BloombergBusinessweek, September 5, 2013

Wrigleyville rooftop, 1989 Photo: Jim Sugar/Corbis Source: www.businessweek.com

Wrigleyville rooftop, 1989
Photo: Jim Sugar/Corbis
Source: www.businessweek.com

Eric Wolverton is drinking a beer at a Cubs game. Actually, near a Cubs game. As 40,500 people—a near-sellout crowd—settled into their hard plastic seats at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Wolverton perched on the bleachers on a rooftop across the street. He paid $124, roughly the cost of a field-level ticket at other Major League ballparks, for the privilege of cheering on the Cubs from atop 3643 N. Sheffield Ave., one of the 16 for-profit spectator spaces that make up the Wrigleyville Rooftops Association. The Cubs, who currently have the league’s third-worst record, are playing the third in a four-game series against the Dodgers, who’ve already beaten them twice. “You don’t go to a Cubs game to watch good baseball; you go to see Wrigley,” Wolverton says, and the ballpark, he adds, is best viewed from above. “Everyone talks about how historic Wrigley is, how going to a game is like stepping back in time,” he says. “And it is.” “But,” interjects Mike Gordon, Wolverton’s friend and fellow Cubs die-hard, “that place is a dump.”

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Chicago: America’s green city

Posted on April 23, 2013 //

by JAMES CONAWAY, National Geographic Traveler, September 2010 issue

The Nichols Bridgeway extends over the world's largest green roof to Millennium Park Photo: Melissa Farlow Source: www.travel.nationalgeographic.com

The Nichols Bridgeway extends over the world’s largest green roof to Millennium Park
Photo: Melissa Farlow
Source: www.travel.nationalgeographic.com

From aging industrial capital to model of livability and environmental stewardship, Chicago is becoming our kind of town.

Phil Ponce, local TV news anchor, peers at the amazing array of sausages dangling from overhead racks in Gene’s Deli in north Chicago’s Lincoln Square. “Chicago’s not the city of big shoulders,” he jokes, referring to poet Carl Sandburg’s early-20th-century characterization of what was then America’s industrial capital, “but rather the city of pig shoulders.” (And that refers not just to actual pork, he later explains, but also to the long line of Chicago politicians convicted of taking bribes.)

It’s Sunday afternoon, and the sidewalks are jammed in this longtime enclave of sausage-loving Germans and Eastern Europeans. Recent years have seen a growing ethnic diversity among residents, as well as an influx of shops and galleries. Yet, a steel archway labeled “Lincoln Square” lets the world know that pride in the neighborhood—pig shoulders and all—is stronger than ever.

“A few years ago people here decided they didn’t want big developments,” Ponce says, explaining that condos were prevented from taking over the local movie theater, though locals welcomed new residents moving into renovated apartments. “There are more than 50 neighborhoods in Chicago just as distinct and as cherished as this one,” he adds, vital components in the overall good vibe of this historic Midwestern metropolis.

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Les grandes villes du monde: Chicago

Posted on March 4, 2013 //

par Maude Cournoyer-Gendron, Villes Régions Monde, février 2013

1. Introduction

Depuis les dernières années, différentes firmes privées ou organismes internationaux ont mis en place des palmarès afin de classer les villes du monde (consulter la capsule introductive pour plus de détails sur les palmarès et la méthodologie menant aux choix des villes retenues). L’objectif poursuivi dans cette série de capsules est d’explorer les réalités historiques, géographiques, économiques, sociales et urbaines de différentes grandes villes du monde qui se retrouvent dans les grands palmarès de ville. La notion de ville mondiale sous-entend à la fois une grande relation avec les autres villes du globe, avec un rôle de point de relai dans l’économie mondiale, mais aussi une importance sur différents plans soit économique, culturel ou politique (Braudel 1979; Friedmann 1986; Dolfus 1996; Sassen 2001).

Cet intérêt pour les villes mondiales dépasse la sphère académique. Depuis les dernières années, plusieurs grandes firmes font à leur tour un exercice de hiérarchisation des villes du monde en publiant différents palmarès. Dans le cadre de ces capsules, la ville de Chicago a été sélectionnée puisque, bien qu’elle ne soit pas une des plus grandes villes en termes de population, elle a une place dans différents palmarès, en plus d’être la troisième ville en importance aux États-Unis, avec Los Angeles et New York.

Pour faire état de cette grande ville du monde, Chicago est d’abord parmi les autres villes mondiales à l’aide des six palmarès retenus pour cette série de capsules. Un survol des données factuelles de la ville est ensuite fait, combiné à une description sommaire de son histoire, de sa géographie, et de son économie. Les principaux enjeux urbains qui prennent forme dans la ville sont par la suite identifiés, et finalement une revue de la littérature récente, portant spécifiquement sur la ville ou la région, est faite. Cette capsule, comme l’ensemble de celles qui font partie de cette série, veut être un document introductif, dressant des pistes de recherche pour qui voudra entreprendre une étude plus approfondie. Les matériaux et analyses dont il est fait mention sont le résultat d’une recherche documentaire sur internet, combinée à une recherche d’articles scientifiques et de monographies sur les principales bases de données.

Lire la suite…

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