Living Community Challenge Planning

Bronzeville Lakefront

The South side of Chicago has long been poorly served by urban renewal. Bronzeville Lakefront represents a new future that will bring jobs, healthy living, and sustainability to the historic neighborhood and demonstrate how brownfields can be turned into new, holistic developments that promote life. The project embodies principles of regenerative design and results in creating a new gateway to Chicago that is integrated deeply with nature and filled with new public and private spaces that provide new housing, jobs, and centers of innovation.

Bronzeville Lakefront is imagined as a new nexus for healthcare innovation and regenerative community development. The project is intended to further revitalize Chicago’s iconic lakefront and expand the economic core of the city through development of first-in-class, inclusive centers for healthcare, urban living, commercial development and public space. As a future community rooted in equitable, holistic living, and sustainable development Bronzeville Lakefront will set new standards that demonstrate the potential for cities to revitalize and regenerate their core areas. Living Buildings that connect people to the place, light, air, nature, and community will be established as the new standard for both work, home, civic, and recreational spaces. Buildings will be designed to be occupied and operated with sustainability and regeneration in mind. Landscapes around the buildings will form a network of green spaces that promote walkability, connectivity, manage stormwater, reduce urban heat island effects, improve air quality, provide urban agriculture, and extensive pollinator friendly landscapes integrated throughout on both streets, gardens, and vegetated roofs. The living landscapes of the development will utilize the native ecology of Chicago’s lakeshore and enhance the future masterplan with spaces that are vibrant, pedestrian friendly, and sustainable holistic community places. The Lakeshore Drive site has a historical legacy that was significantly impactful and considered in the planning process. Bronzeville Lakefront, once known as the “Black Metropolis in Chicago”, was and remains one of the country’s centers of significant African-American urban history, entrepreneurship, activism, community and entertainment. The Bronzeville Team engaged and collaborated with the community, stakeholders, and city to produce a framework and future plan that pays homage to the legacy of the community past and present to create a regenerative place in the next chapter of the site for the future.