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Once an amenity Chicago turned its back on, the Chicago River is now a thriving amenity contributing to environmental sustainability, habitat development, local economic development and recreation opportunity. The �첥��Ƶ owns over 6.5 miles of parkland along the Chicago and Little Calumet Rivers and is dedicated to park improvements that both improve habitat conditions as well as patron access to the river. 

Over a dozen riverbank projects are already complete including riverbank restorations, a dam removal and new boat houses. Recent projects underway include riverbank restoration projects at Kiwanis Park, Legion Park and River Parks along the Chicago River. The restoration of these areas will greatly improve visibility, beauty and access to the river as well as increase ecological quality, stabilize the riverbanks and improve the natural habitat. In addition, the improvements at River Park provide increased non-motorized boat storage and improve water access to support an existing and expanding paddling program including the first adaptive paddling program to provide individuals with physical disabilities access to river paddling.

In addition, a redesign and expansion of Ronan Park along the Chicago River now under construction will create a new neighborhood gateway to include a new plaza and market space with a pavilion for performances and a viewing platform at the river edge. The project also renews and improves beloved community garden spaces.  Further work in partnership with the Shedd Aquarium is underway at Park 571 an Bubbly Creek along the South Branch.

Work in planning is also underway for California Park, funded through a federal grant, to rebuild the riverbank and improve the pedestrian and bicycle trail system as a part of the 312 RiverRun trail system.

DuSable Park is a 3.44-acre park located east of Lake Shore Drive at the confluence of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. After decades of remaining vacant land, the site is now in design for upcoming park development.  

The park site is located upon an area of lake fill that was home to various industrial uses beginning in the late 1800s.  The site was established as a park as part of the Chicago Dock and Canal Trust Planned Development, and in 1987 Mayor Harold Washington dedicated and named the site in honor of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, the first non-native American settler and founder of Chicago. In 1988, a quitclaim of 3.44 acres for DuSable Park was deeded to the �첥��Ƶ.  

In the years that followed the park’s dedication and transfer into Park District ownership, several advancements and some setbacks in the site’s planning and development as a public park have occurred. In 2006, the Park District worked with local stakeholders to develop the DuSable Park Framework Plan.  The Framework Plan lays out a vision for the park including interpretive and recreation elements such as a Founder’s Plaza, an observatory, a promenade, a lakefront boardwalk, an outdoor classroom, a boat drop-off, and educational and art components. The 2006 Framework Plans serves as a strong foundation for the new park development.

Also important to the park site, in 1993, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) discovered soil contamination including thorium at the site. In 2017, following a legal settlement with previous land owners, the EPA awarded $6.8 Million to the Chicago Park Distirict for environmental clean-up which was subsequently completed in 2021.

With funding now identified, design for upcoming park development is now underway. The park is positioned as both a critical piece of Chicago's public lakefront and the endcap to Chicago’s Riverwalk.  

Per the Framework Plan, the �첥��Ƶ's goals in creating DuSable Park are to:

1.  Honor and celebrate Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable's contributions to Chicago and to educate the public accordingly.
2. Recognize the unique confluence of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan by creating a passive, visible and accessible park.
3. Attract the local community, citywide residents, and tourists to the park.
4. Create a park design that has evolved from the input of the �첥��Ƶ and the DuSable Park Steering Committee.
5. Incorporate art and storytelling into the park that celebrates the life and legacy of DuSable

Because this is such a historically important project at a premier lakefront site happening at a pivotal time in the City’s history, the Park District chose to solicit a designer for the project through a public, “target market” Request for Proposals process.  A diverse, world-class design team was selected, composed of Ross Barney Architecture and Brook Architecture. Design of DuSable Park is currently underway, based on the recommendations of the 2006 DuSable Park Framework Plan and an ongoing community feedback process.  

The Garfield Park Conservatory is one of the largest and most stunning conservatories in the nation. Often referred to as “landscape art under glass,” the Garfield Park Conservatory occupies two acres of public greenhouse space and 10 acres of outdoor gardens.  In 2022, the Conservatory welcomed nearly 300,000 visitors. The Conservatory is an attraction that serves the local East Garfield Park community and attracts visitors from around the globe. In a typical year, 30% of visitors are from Chicago’s west side, and 58% are from the City of Chicago.

The warm tropical environment is an attraction for many families to visit and learn about plants and nature – especially in the cold winter months.  The southwest section of the facility features a 6,000 square foot indoor children’s garden.  Our partner, the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance, has raised funds from private and government sources to completely renovate the room and build the new Elizabeth Morse Genius Children’s Garden. The project is designed to use nature to inspire and engage children, creating an immersive space of natural wonder where children can elevate their expectations, explore their possibilities, and discover their future. The new garden and playscape will provide a free, year-round, accessible adventure playground for Garfield Park and Chicago families.

The project scope includes the complete reconstruction of the children’s garden with new planting beds, new family restrooms and a new indoor playground that is designed specifically for the space. Play structures will be built with materials that can withstand the wet environment of an indoor greenhouse. A wheel-chair accessible spiral ramp will make its way up to the top of the Conservatory’s historic glass roof, providing views of the Conservatory grounds and the exhibits below. The playground will feature numerous play elements that provide children with opportunities to explore ways that plants are important for human health and ecosystems, along with opportunities to use both fine and gross motor skills. The centerpiece of the playground is a one-of-a-kind climber that will connect with the accessible ramp at the top of the greenhouse. 

Grant (Ulysses) Park, proudly referred to as “Chicago’s Front Yard,” is a 313-acre �첥��Ƶ site bounded on the north by East Randolph Street, on the south by Roosevelt Road, on the east by Lake Michigan (Monroe and DuSable Harbors), and on the west by Michigan Avenue. A few of the park’s most iconic and notable features, today, include the Art Institute of Chicago, Buckingham Fountain, Millennium Park, Maggie Daley Park, and the Museum Campus (which includes the Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium). Its beginnings date to 1835, with the original intent of the park being to prevent lakefront development and to protect the open space. The park’s original area east of Michigan Avenue was “forever to remain vacant of buildings”. Officially named Lake Park in 1847, the entire park is built on landfill, much of which consists of the charred rubble of the Great Fire of 1871. The park was renamed Grant Park, in honor of the 18th President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, by the South Park Commission (later to become the �첥��Ƶ) in 1901. Renowned American/Chicago architect and urban designer, Daniel H. Burnham, is credited with the park’s reconceptualization as a formal landscape including museums and other civic buildings, only to be contested by the Chicago based mail-order magnate, Aaron Montgomery Ward, who sought to protect the park’s open character. 

In 2002, the �첥��Ƶ Board of Commissioners adopted the Grant Park Framework Plan. It outlines recommendations and principles to guide land use and management for Grant Park based on the Grant Park Design Guidelines of 1992. Since the plan’s publication, the Park District has accomplished a number of objectives within the proposed framework. These include the development of Maggie Daley Park, the adjacent Millennium Park, as well as the Skate Park on the southern end. However, twenty years hence, areas of the park such as Upper and Lower Hutchinson Fields and Columbus Drive, warrant reconsideration because the park, its communities, and the City have evolved in the past twenty years. Other areas, such as Butler Field, which was intended as a temporary structure, have aged out of use in their current forms, while others, such as the Lakefront development, have yet to be realized. 

Starting in spring of 2022, the �첥��Ƶ began the efforts to renew the Grant Park Framework Plan to provide an updated and contemporary vision for future improvements to the park over time. The updated framework plan will serve as a tool for the Park District and the greater community to prioritize improvements as resources to invest in the park become available.  The plan will address Grant Park’s role as a neighborhood park, a city destination, and as public open space with national significance as a historic park. The plan will be the guiding document that outlines priorities and ensures that improvements are implemented in a coordinated manner with respect to the historic integrity of the park and the evolving needs of the community.

Jackie Robinson Park is a 12.27-acre park located in the Washington Heights neighborhood. The park features a playground, softball/baseball diamonds, and basketball courts. The park is adjacent to a CPS facility and Mt. Vernon Elementary School. A recent agreement with CPS allows the Park District to demolish an unused school annex building and build a new fieldhouse for the community.  

The new fieldhouse will provide the community with a vital neighborhood amenity and will pay homage to the park's namesake, Jackie Robinson. The current building design features art and design concepts that honor Robinson, such as a printed portrait in the fieldhouse's lobby and a color scheme that complements his former Dodger's uniform.. 

The fieldhouse will include two multipurpose clubrooms, a full-sized gymnasium, fitness center, teen room, pantry, lobby, storage space, offices, and restrooms. Site improvements will include staff parking, paving, and landscaping. 

The new 18,000 sq ft fieldhouse will be compact and efficient. Welcoming entrances will connect the fieldhouse, park, playground and school. Inside, the gymnasium will contain a full-size basketball court and two half size courts with retractable bleachers. The lobby will serve as the central hub of the building allowing for visibility to activities inside and outside. The two multipurpose clubrooms will provide a meeting space for community use and park kids, while the adjacent pantry can be used for food prep and catering services. The fitness/wellness center will house new multi-generational workout equipment and the teen center will allow space for youth to gather for activities and recreation. 

This project is funded through a State of Illinois, Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) grant.

In July 2016, the Obama Foundation announced that Jackson Park will be the site of the Obama Presidential Center (OPC).  In addition to the construction of the center itself, the project includes a number of site improvements in and around Jackson Park. Anticipated site improvements include roadway reconfiguration to accommodate the OPC, the construction of new bicycle and pedestrian improvements, and the relocation of certain recreational uses that will be displaced to accommodate the OPC. Because the proposed project area is located on property listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of both the Jackson Park Historic Landscape District and Midway Plaisance and the Chicago Park Boulevard System Historic District, the project is subject to review under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. As part of this process, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Federal Highway Administration, the Illinois State Historic Preservation Officer, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation was executed in December 2021.  The MOA identifies feasible measures to resolve any adverse effects identified in the Section 106 process that could impact the historic integrity of the project area.

The scope of work of this project addresses one of the mitigation measures identified in the draft MOA: Replacement of recreational use area within Jackson Park that was restored in the 1980s using Urban Park and Recreation Recovery (UPARR) grant money.  Because the footprint of the OPC development will modify the original UPARR boundary within Jackson Park, the City is required to dedicate replacement recreation property elsewhere. As part of a UPARR Amendment executed in May 2021 between the National Park Service and the City of Chicago (Grantee) and the �첥��Ƶ (Subgrantee), the recreation replacement will be partially addressed through the dedication of recreation area at the east end of the Midway Plaisance.  To replace lost recreational opportunities and respond to community requests, the recreation replacement site will accommodate a combination of play area, open space, and rehabilitated walkways.  

The new park development started design in 2021 under Site Design Group as team lead. The project includes development of approximately 3.3 acres to include a new, fully inclusive 21,000 square foot playground that integrates nature play into the design. The one-of-a-kind playground and the first of its kind in a Chicago Park features an environment that welcomes children and adults of all ages and abilities to play and interact together, allowing people of varying skills sets to play side-by-side in a thoughtful, well-designed, and sensory rich environment that challenges individuals at their own level.

Other park improvements include restoration of the historic Cheney-Goode Memorial and associated site drainage and utility work.

The Morgan Shoal Revetment Reconstruction Project is located along the Lake Michigan shoreline between 45th and 51st Streets.  The project study area is located within the larger 650-acre Burnham Park which stretches along the Chicago lakefront from the Museum Campus south to Jackson Park. This project is the latest phase of the Chicago Shoreline Protection Project, a long-term shoreline reconstruction project undertaken by the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), the �첥��Ƶ (CPkD), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (�첥��ƵACE) that started in the 1990s.  In conjunction with its partners, the Public Building Commission of Chicago (PBC) is managing the development of planning, design, procurement, and construction of the Morgan Shoal Revetment Reconstruction project.

The PBC, in collaboration with CPD, CDOT and �첥��ƵACE, has engaged a project team led by SmithGroup to design the revetment reconstruction. The proposed design for the project will reflect the conceptual designs that resulted from the 2014-2015 Framework Plan process. While some refinements to the shore protection arrangement are anticipated, the coastal structures will include a combination of rubble mound and dynamic revetment, stepped stone blocks, and a transition section of steel sheet pile and concrete revetment to connect to the existing structure at 51st Street. The project will add up to 9.5 acres of new usable parkland by providing more width to the narrowest parts of the park. The additional space will allow for a dual trail system and will create separation between park users and DuSable Lake Shore Drive. 

The defining feature of the project segment is the near-offshore geologic formation known as the Morgan Shoal. One of many shoals in the area, the Morgan Shoal is a bedrock formation of dolomite limestone formed 300 million years ago that protrudes almost to the surface of Lake Michigan. The shallow water depths reduce the incident wave conditions and the shallow bedrock makes sheet-pile-based shoreline protection systems difficult to construct, therefore, it presents an opportunity for alternative shore protection measures. 

The design is intended to provide additional passive and active recreational opportunities, as well as a new comfort station, improved viewpoints at 47th Street and 51st Street, and enhanced connectivity for trail users. A balance will be struck between traditional park green space and new, diverse natural areas supporting indigenous flora and fauna, particularly migratory birds.  

The Morgan Shoal reconstruction will provide a degree of coastal protection and flood damage reduction in keeping with the broader Chicago Shoreline Protection Project. This project will also provide an important link along the Lake Michigan waterfront to create an active, interesting, and educational place for people to visit, in keeping with the 1999 Burnham Park Framework Plan and the 2015 Morgan Shoal Framework Plan. 

In Spring 2022, the �첥��Ƶ announced the kick-off of the Washington Park Framework Plan process. The project team is led by M�첥��ƵE Community + Design, a woman-owned urban planning and public engagement firm founded in 2014, who has extensive experience in Chicago and across the region leading equity-centered planning processes. Also on the team is Rudd Resources, a woman- and Black-owned public relations firm based on Chicago's South Side, who is leading community engagement and outreach. In addition, the award-winning landscape architecture team at Hitchcock Design Group will lead the technical and design aspects of the project.

The updated Washington Park Framework Plan will provide a vision for improvements in the park over time and will serve as a planning tool for the Park District and the greater community as resources become available to invest in the park. The plan will address the park’s role as a South Side community hub, a city destination, and as a nationally significant historic park. Once complete, the plan will be the guiding document that outlines community priorities and ensures that improvements are implemented in a coordinated manner with respect to the historic integrity of the park and the evolving needs of the community. 

Washington Park is a 367-acre �첥��Ƶ site bounded on the north by East 51st Street, on the south by East 60th Street, on the east by Cottage Grove Avenue, and on the west by South King Drive. It was conceived in 1871 by Frederick Law Olmstead as part of a large 1,055-acre park known as South Park, a complex that is now home to modern-day Jackson Park, the Midway Plaisance, and Washington Park.  Today, Washington Park continues to reflect many of its original design elements, and of the three parks comprising the original concept for South Park, Washington Park remains the most intact representation of Olmstead’s plan. 

In 2002, the �첥��Ƶ Board of Commissioners adopted the Washington Park Framework Plan. The framework plan outlines recommendations and principles to guide land use and management for Washington Park. In 2004, Washington Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a United States Registered Historic District. Since the early 2000s, the Park District has accomplished a number of plan objectives with respect to the park’s historic context, and significant changes have occurred in the surrounding community and connecting parks – the Midway Plaisance and Jackson Park.