Our Mission

Transforming city rivers into wildlife sanctuaries, to provide spaces where people of all backgrounds can connect with nature in new and innovative ways

Look at a river running through any major city around the world and you will probably find the same thing — sheet metal walls where riverbanks used to be. These walls remove essentially any natural riverbank habitat for plants and wildlife to live. Since these walls simply cannot be removed from most cities, we are bringing back river habitat to urban waterways by building artificial floating gardens that can fit into existing river systems. These gardens are filled with native wetland plants that provide food, shelter, and overall high quality habitat for native wildlife — a sanctuary in the middle of the city.

These sanctuaries aren’t just for the fish, birds, and turtles. We are restoring life to the Chicago River for all by installing floating boardwalks for human communities to access and enjoy the river too.

Sanctuaries for All

At Urban Rivers, we believe that transforming urban waterways into wildlife sanctuaries is not only an important environmental mission, but also a critical social one. Access to nature and green spaces is not equally distributed in our cities, and historically marginalized communities have been disproportionately impacted by environmental degradation and pollution. We seek to target and transform historically degraded areas of the Chicago River into lush gardens and public walkways that benefit the communities around them, improving environmental quality and increasing access to nature.

We are committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment where people of all backgrounds have an equal opportunity to connect with nature. The Wild Mile is a public park with ADA accessible boardwalk. We host free school field trips, tours, and a variety of programs open to all ages, races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and abilities.

We recognize that diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential values that must continue to guide our work in transforming once inaccessible urban waterways into accessible community spaces for all.