Chicago's latest urban-design contest has produced two co-winning proposals focused on expanding and connecting green space. World Business Chicago named the Morton Arboretum and design firm MKSK winners of its inaugural Horizon Lines competition, selected from nearly 200 submissions and six finalists, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The competition sought proposals for Chicago's future, the Chicago Tribune reported. The Morton Arboretum's winning concept, Green City Rising, calls for mini-forests distributed across neighborhoods and shaped around the communities where they are planted. MKSK's proposal, Wonderways!, focuses on the city's 26-mile boulevard system, envisioning a linked landscape of prairie and forest connecting Chicago parks.
According to the Tribune, the jury viewed the two proposals as complementary: Green City Rising emphasizes adding canopy at the neighborhood level, while Wonderways! builds on existing boulevard corridors to connect larger areas of green space.
Two Very Different Approaches to the Same Green Goal
Green City Rising and Wonderways! were far from the only ideas on the table. Other finalists pitched turning Chicago's sprawling 1,900-mile alley network into leafier residential streetscapes, while another proposal called for capping below-grade stretches of the Dan Ryan and Eisenhower expressways to carve out new green space, according to the Tribune.
How the Ideas Fit Chicago's Existing Green Plans
The winning concepts would build on an existing effort to address uneven tree cover. According to the City of Chicago, its Our Roots Chicago initiative launched in 2022 with funding to plant 75,000 trees by 2026 in historically underserved neighborhoods with low tree-canopy cover. The initiative identifies the neighborhoods with the greatest stated need, though the contest materials described here do not provide a neighborhood-by-neighborhood ranking. Chicago's boulevard network also has a complicated public history. Chicago Park District records show that a 1957 exchange of functions transferred the Park District's boulevards and park drives to the City, while the City transferred more than 200 parks and other facilities to the Park District. That division of responsibility is part of the institutional backdrop for any plan to remake the boulevard system.
The contest launched in spring 2026, and a panel of 10 judges narrowed the field down to six finalists by June, per the same report. World Business Chicago announced the winners at a City Club of Chicago event.
Honorariums Now, No Blueprint Yet
The prizes are modest for now. The Morton Arboretum and MKSK will each receive a $5,000 honorarium, while the four runners-up will collect $1,000 apiece, the Tribune reported. Beyond the cash, both winners earn something arguably more valuable: a seat at the table with public and private partners to explore turning their concepts into reality.
That said, neither Green City Rising nor Wonderways! comes with an implementation plan. Both proposals still require funding, feasibility studies and city approval before any mini-forest or restored boulevard could break ground, according to the same account.
Echoes of Burnham's Century-Old Vision
The contest also recalls Chicago's long history of using broad planning ideas to shape the city. Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago, published in 1909, influenced the city's development, parks system and open lakefront for more than a century, the Tribune noted.
Phil Clement, tied to the contest, said the winning proposals show what is possible when design, civic ambition and local voices come together to build a greener, more connected Chicago for the next generation, per the Tribune's report. Jill Koski argued that nature itself should be treated as a key stakeholder in the city's economic and community development, the same account states. Andrea Sáenz added that Green City Rising and Wonderways! can work together to create opportunities for people to connect with one another, with nature, and with their own neighborhoods, according to the Tribune.
For now, Chicagoans can see the full scope of the competition's ambition in person. The Horizon Lines exhibition is on display at the Chicago Cultural Center, with its run recently extended through October 11, 2026, per the Tribune.
