Design
A Green Revolution in Chicago
The city has big plans for its lake front
Chicagoans often refer to the Lake Michigan waterfront as their front yard, and there's little question the mostly open stretch of public space is integral to the city's personality. For starters, the best way to see the city – parks, gardens, beaches, and museums, sporting and convention facilities and that stunning skyline – is a bike ride up the 18-mile lakefront trail, from the University of Chicago to Hollywood Beach.
President Barack Obama celebrated his 2008 election night victory in Millennium Park, wedged between Michigan Avenue and the lake. Navy Pier, a few blocks north, is the most popular tourist attraction in Illinois. In between, the city was born when trader Jean Baptiste Point du Sable built a farm in the 1780s.