Green City Rising reimagines Chicago as an arboretum—a connected network of tree-centric green spaces, including neighborhood-level arboreta, where every community benefits from a healthy tree canopy. It is the Arboretum’s finalist urban design concept in World Business Chicago’s Horizon Lines competition.

An arboretum is a living museum of trees and other woody plants curated by an organization that has a commitment to care for the collection and educate the public about trees and other woody plants.

Green City Rising is a vision for Chicago’s future, not a single project that The Morton Arboretum is currently building or seeking to fund. The vision draws on tested partnerships and impactful programs like the Chicago Region Trees Initiative and ArbNet to stimulate collaboration and inspire action to bring a greener, more resilient Chicago to life. The Arboretum invites conversations about how partners, resources, and expertise could bring trees where they are needed most.

This vision is about more than planting trees. Green City Rising champions trees as essential civic infrastructure and part of the fabric of every community. Urban forestry can transform everyday spaces into interconnected, community-defined landscapes that address some of Chicago’s most urgent challenges, from extreme heat and flooding to environmental inequity.

As climate pressures intensify and population dynamics shift, Chicago’s future depends on environmental adaptation and on fiscally sound investments that strengthen communities over time. Trees are one such investment: they provide lasting environmental, economic, and quality-of-life benefits while increasing in value as they grow.

Green City Rising aligns with the City of Chicago’s current tree planting and care efforts, as well as the growing recognition that trees are essential to healthy, resilient cities.

Green City Rising is a tested and scalable vision. It builds upon existing work from the Arboretum and other collaborative tree initiatives, like Our Roots Chicago.

Through the Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI), The Morton Arboretum works with municipalities, community organizations, and residents to plant and care for trees, particularly in communities with the greatest canopy need. CRTI uses highly cited data and priority maps to help communities understand their urban forests and determine where resources can have the greatest impact. The initiative has involved more than 500 partners across Illinois, providing an established implementation structure that directly shaped Green City Rising’s goals.

Through ArbNet, the Arboretum’s global community of arboreta, the Arboretum helps establish standards for tree-focused landscapes and connects communities and institutions—nearly 1,000 in all—to a worldwide network of expertise. ArbNet’s work in the Chicago region includes supporting the development of community-based arboreta and engaging a broad diversity of audiences in tree education.

Together, these programs demonstrate how the Arboretum’s expertise in tree science, urban forestry, canopy analysis, long-term stewardship, and community engagement can help advance the broader vision of Green City Rising.

Financial support for Green City Rising can be provided directly to The Morton Arboretum to elevate and grow established Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI) and ArbNet programs. By investing in these core Arboretum initiatives, donors provide the foundational resources required to expand an equitable tree canopy and realize the broader Green City Rising vision across the region. A blended funding model combining public investment, philanthropy, and corporate support will be essential to implementing the Green City Rising vision.

For more information on how to financially support Green City Rising and the Arboretum, please contact Kristin Scott, the Arboretum’s senior director of principal and major gifts, at kscott@mortonarb.org.