Business-as-usual development does not prepare our cities for today’s climate and economic uncertainties. As CNT looks to create equitable, resilient communities we find that energy, water, transportation and waste must be addressed as systems, rather than on a purely building-by-building basis. District-scale innovation allows us to do just that. Sustainable infrastructure at a multi-building, or multi-block level can provide clean energy, transportation access, and healthy water while preserving affordability and better protecting us against risks like urban flooding. It can also create green jobs and economic development opportunities as companies increasingly look to locate in areas that support their sustainability and livability goals. CNT served on the advisory committee for the development of the EcoDistricts Protocol which identifies equity, resilience, and climate protection as the three “imperatives” that drive all EcoDistrict efforts. CNT’s EcoDistrict work addresses essential implementation factors, including site selection, governance. community control, financing, policy, and documenting the many benefits that come from sustainable infrastructure.

Work has included showing how the EcoDistrict concept can be applied to industrial and manufacturing development, specific case studies on Chicago’s Central Manufacturing District and the food manufacturing incubation industry and Chicago’s Hatchery, EcoDistrict Feasibility Studies for Elevated Chicago’s targeted transit areas, and in financing and infrastructure modeling for Phoenix, AZ.

Listen in to a July 2017 webinar as CNT's Jen McGraw and Scott Bernstein presented on research on a range of innovations for Industrial EcoDistricts in the areas of energy, water, and transportation. CNT looks at district-scale interventions and asks What is it?, Why do it?, and What does it cost? with practical, real-world examples and financing strategies to help implementers and decision-makers create next generation industrial districts in their communities.  

Currently, next generation energy goals are largely being pursued through green buildings, making buildings efficient, one at a time; and development and deployment of individual energy technologies – such as solar, wind power, or co-generation. While individual buildings and individual technologies have made a significant contribution, as our LEED Platinum headquarters, among others, has demonstrated, it is hard to take them to scale quickly enough.

In the long run, more comprehensive and ‘disruptive’ strategies need to be developed to realize the full potential of renewables and efficiency in an urban context.  It’s not enough just to figure out how to add more solar collectors to the existing system. The underlying infrastructure of cities needs to change to achieve long-range goals, and integrated, district-scale systems are a big part of what is necessary.

EcoDistricts are the cutting edge of sustainability solutions that use a district scale to achieve greater impact. They link energy, transportation, water, land use, urban agriculture, and more in an integrated, equitable, and efficient resource system. Each EcoDistrict is unique and designed to meet the needs of its residents, businesses, and institutions, serving as innovation labs for cities and regions.

EcoDistrict Feasibility Scan for Elevated Chicago eHubs

The study, evaluating existing conditions and potential for implementing strategies that promote sustainable resource management, community ownership, and preservation of affordability in four “eHubs” surrounding targeted Elevated transit stations in Chicago,  was completed by CNT and project partner SB Friedman Development Advisors and made possible through the support of Enterprise Community Partners. 

Download PDFs from the Elevated Chicago EcoDistrict Feasibility Scan here.