Chicago has been going green since the early 1900s, when city planner Daniel Hudson Burnham established a long-term plan to protect the lakefront property and keep it a permanent green public space. So far, so good. The city has built and maintained several lakefront public areas such as Millenium Park, Grant Park and the popular 18.5-mile Lakefront Trail. With 117 miles of on-street bike lanes throughout the city, Chicago’s bike friendly nature may be as famous as its deep-dish pizza.
But that’s not all, as Travel + Leisure reports, Chicago is also home to more than 2.5 million square feet of urban rooftop gardens, with green roofs gracing Soldier Field and beehives buzzing atop City Hall. The city has even experimented with solar panels and wind turbines on skyscrapers.