Registration is LIVE for our Inaugural Deep Roots Workshop!

Urban flooding...water pollution...topsoil erosion...urban heat islands... 

Did you ever wonder WHY we face these challenges? While their individual causes are complex, they result from one systemic failure: the systematic removal of ecosystem services from our built environment. The time is right and the need is great to radically shift our built environment approach towards one of holistic regeneration rooted in the genius of our place - northeastern Illinois.

Kick off event!

Using water to illustrate our ideas and approach, we will discuss how learning from our local ecology allows us to shift our thinking about stormwater from waste to critical resource - one to hold on to for as long as possible. Through fun brainstorming activities, we will use real projects provided by workshop partners alongside design principles from local natural models to reimagine the potential of our local water management systems to shift from operating at a deficit to generating a net positive water balance.

At our one-day event, we will begin to explore the opportunities to use the cutting-edge biomimicry innovation methodology to design and build lost ecosystem functions back into our built environment. Join us in kicking off this exciting new initiative for the Chicago region!

Who Should Come?

To lay the foundation for this shift, we seek to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams (with people like you!) to develop publicly accessible information and tools to inform our collective decision making and measure the success of our designs.

Therefore, our goal is to bring in as diverse a group as possible - all perspectives are needed and valued! Architects, designers, engineers (civil, industrial...all kinds!), developers, municipal workers, biologists, landscape architects, students and educators, planners, economists, and more!

During this event, participants will:

• Explore the grounds of the Lurie Garden with ecologists and learn about the inherent sustainability and resilience of our native ecosystems;
• Learn about ecosystem functions as applied to the built environment through interactive activities;
• Learn biomimicry tools and strategies for learning from nature to create innovative solutions to critical challenges; and
• Collectively brainstorm a common vision for The Deep Roots Project that will continue long after the initial event.

Our Speakers

Speakers who will lead the workshop include Biomimicry Chicago network leaders Amy Coffman Phillips and Rachel Hahs as well as Conservation Design forum's Jim Patchett and the Lurie Garden's Director Scott Stewart. The Deep Roots initiative is guided by industry leaders representing diverse experience including architecture, business, ecology and design, and we welcome all participants in bringing this initiative to work for the Chicago region. If you would like to be a part of this initiative, either as an organization or as an individual, please contact us.

Learn more and register today!