Our Mission
“Transforming urban waterways into wildlife sanctuaries, creating opportunities for people of all backgrounds to connect with nature in new and meaningful ways”
Look at a river running through any major city around the world and you’ll probably find the same thing — metal seawalls where riverbanks used to be. These walls remove essentially any natural riverbank habitat for plants and wildlife. In many cases, these seawalls cannot be removed. In order to reintroduce habitat within this industrial infrastructure, we build artificial floating gardens that can fit into existing waterways. 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 install floating boardwalks, allowing human communities to access these thriving pockets of nature.
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 greenspace 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. We host free 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.