How Chicago Solves its Overheating Problem

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Discover the innovative approaches Chicago has taken to beat the sweltering summer heat in this tour. Despite being notorious for its brutal winters, the city also faces scorching summers that pose deadly risks. Learn how design-related initiatives implemented after a devastating heatwave in 1995 have revolutionized the way Chicago keeps its citizens cool and safe. From green roofs that reduce indoor temperatures by 30-40°F to district cooling systems that save space, energy, and costs, this video explores a range of passive strategies that combat urban heat without relying solely on air conditioning. Join the journey and witness the remarkable ways Chicago stays cool!
Staying cool in a hot city isn't just about cranking up the air conditioning; it's about smart design choices that minimize environmental impact. Join us as we delve into the ingenious methods employed by Chicago to combat its sweltering summers. Discover how green roofs, with their insulating soil and vegetation, drastically lower indoor temperatures and even reduce city-wide ambient temperatures. Witness the transformative power of color and vegetation in keeping surfaces cooler and reducing energy demand. From the captivating Crown Fountain's evaporation and convective cooling effects to the largest district cooling system in the US, these passive strategies demonstrate that cooling a city can be sustainable and efficient. Join us on this exploration and gain insights into the remarkable techniques that make Chicago a pioneer in urban coolness. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and leave a comment sharing your thoughts on staying cool in hot climates!
Correction: 9:55 Oh no! It should not say motion graphics here.
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_About the Channel_
Architecture with Stewart is a KZbin journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
_About Me_
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
_Contact_
FOLLOW me on instagram: @stewart_hicks & @designwithco
Design With Company: designwith.co
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture: arch.uic.edu/
#architecture #urbandesign

[@owenpatterson9355]

Hey that’s my dad! Really cool to see his work featured here, the Loyola campus is awesome, some of his proudest work!

[@leolldankology]

Hey, I saw your dad on youtube.

[@hahahajackmyswag]

Hey may be your dad but he ain't your Daddy

[@kellykerr5225]

That’s great. My daughter is in college. She’s quoted me twice in two different classes in essays or a project. I never even dreamed that would happen but it was amazing that she did that. Sounds like you have a cool dad too. Really cool 🎉

[@___Truth___]

@@hahahajackmyswag👈🏾weirdo

[@jayandrusiak]

I’d be embarrassed if my father was a climate change activist 🤣 lefties should just go live in the woods w their little cult

[@TR-wm3sg]

One of Chicago's greatest blessings is the big, blue natural air conditioner that exists all along the entire eastern edge of the city. Love that lake breeze! (Well, in the summer...)

[@jasonreed7522]

Atleast in the winter the prevailing wind blows out to the lake. -Love from Upstate NY and our 2 snow belts.

[@teebee3631]

And in the winter, that lakefront breeze bites back, and cuts your skin. 😂😂

[@FloydTaylor]

9:56 motion graphics 🙂

[@stewarthicks]

Oh no!

[@spikerbond]

😂😂😂

[@CortexNewsService]

I didn't move to Chicago until 1997, but I know the 1995 heatwave left a deep mark on the city. It killed twice as many people as the Great Chicago Fire. I think only the Eastland disaster was deadlier. Not only did the city adapt infrastructure, they also set up more cooling centers and set up systems to check on the vulnerable and get them to safety, including subsidies to help pay for AC.

[@jwatson181]

Cold kills way more than heat.

[@letsgobrandon4601]

Chicagoans kill way more than heat and cold combined

[@All2Skitzd]

Great Chicago Fire? Was that a mostly peaceful protest or something?

[@wukongmain2075]

It's interesting to me how each city has adapted to over time in response to natural events it's had to overcome. In response to the ice storm of 1998 over here in Quebec our energy providers made significant changes to prevent such a disaster from happening again.

[@binglebop5877]

​@birdfig I know shotguns kill alot of people, but assault rifles kill more though

[@onstructures]

Great video! A note from a structural engineer: green roofs are beautiful, though can weigh more than 300 pounds per square foot depending on soil depth. Certainly not free, but worth it! The featured building looks much better with a green cap

[@jasonreed7522]

And 2 other roof types to limit heat vs a standard black rubber roof: white which is just a color swap, and a PV Solar farm which turns that unwanted heat into a more useful form. Ultimately its up to the client/building owner, but you don't have to go all out on a green roof to have a more environmentally friendly roof. The sun delivers 1300W/m^2 to the top of the atmosphere, on a clear day that becomes about 1kW/m^2 which is a lot of energy to deal with. (Numbers memorized due to being an EE)

[@peoplez129]

But does it offset the energy needs to produce and place and maintain 300lbs / sqft? I'd say no. They might look neat, but don't kid yourself. They're less green than literally doing nothing. It's like saying trash on the moon would be good for earth's environment, but getting it all to the moon would cause more pollution than the trash itself. And that in a nutshell, is a perfect analogy to all these green initiatives. Did you know wind farms use more fossil fuel energy than they will ever produce? Did you know that wind farms actively use diesel generators to keep the turbines spinning? Did you know large scale wind farms actively alter the local environment negatively? Did you know wind farms wreak destruction on local ecosystems? The amount of birds killed by them alone, results in a lot of branching side effects, right down to the level of pollinators. Green is not green. It's all a scam. Same with carbon capture. Not only is carbon thousands of times less of a greenhouse gas than all the climate predictions are based on (making it effectively not a greenhouse gas), carbon never actually gets removed, it's only shuffled around temporarily. When a plant that has captured carbon dies, it is released back into the environment. In fact, the largest contributor to carbon in the environment is decaying plant matter. So all those "green" crops of ethanol....they're not so green. When they decay after harvest, all that carbon gets released back into the environment. Even carbon capture facilities, and future ones, don't actually do anything but shuffle carbon around. That carbon gets reused in products. It's not like we bury it deep in the earth, which is in fact impossible, because it's not a solid, it's a gas. So even they aren't actually doing anything green. You can find issues like this at every stage of every "green" initiative. None of them are actually green. Not a single one. In comparison to them, nuclear energy and fossil fuels are actually better for the environment.

[@linkly9272]

@@peoplez129 You should really take what politicians and lobby-funded groups tell you with a few more grains of salt.

[@onstructures]

@@peoplez129 This is a weird comment. Just to respond to the first point, The cost to operate a building (especially the carbon cost) vastly outweighs the embodied carbon in the materials. I think you're parroting someone who isn't very knowledgeable about sustainability.

[@peoplez129]

@@linkly9272 I wish they still paid people for telling the truth. I'd be making millions.

[@ShowItBetter]

The quality of these videos just keeps getting better, Stewart!

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you!!

[@Martin-dz7gy]

​@@stewarthicksa suggestion, I feel the volume level from one scene to the next can be very different. Maybe consider normalizing them across the video?

[@tayloralamb]

As HVAC professional, I appreciate that you took the time to understand the technology enough to communicate it. Typically these processes get dumbed down and communicated inaccurately. You did a great job simplifying and staying accurate.

[@juic3box312]

Lived in Chicago for 22 years and thanks to this channel I'm learning a heap of new things about it. Thanks a million! Keep up the great work!

[@jakegolding8388]

I was just a kid in 1995 but I still remember that summer. My grandparents came to visit us from Texas and they joked that had they known it was going to just as hot in Chicago they would’ve stayed home!

[@Liquorice_Monster]

Unfortunately most of the stuff he says about the city is false. From not knowing where the term "gangway" came from and making up a story that it originated from Chicago, to not know what Chicago windows are or where they came from, to saying Millennium Park keeps the city cool, he's completely lost.

[@anthempt3edits]

Your transitions flying from one part of the city to another are looking nice 👌

[@bluebox2000]

BUT, please stop using the now ubiquitous grasshopper on crack background "music." That nasty sound, in nearly every new hip-hop song, cuts right through the air like nails on a chalkboard.

[@muffinmonk]

MOTION GRAPHICS tho

[@TimBryan]

Definitely my favorite part of the video. Really helps keep track of where things are at.

[@fair.]

​@@bluebox2000what

[@Diletta99]

They're simple, but very useful.

[@Th3EpitapH]

1:03 yo, heat transported outside buildings (where it affects others) isn't "why" AC is such a factor for global warming. The *local* feedback loop of heat transport in cities isn't the same thing as the larger feedback loop of AC power consumption (and refrigerant usage) advancing global warming. They're both key reasons why local AC should not be relied on so heavily, especially in cities with all their infrastructure. But they aren't the same thing at all. I realize the statement probably ended up that way through script iteration/editing, but it's important to draw the distinction as the implications and solutions for both are vastly different. anyway, nice video. MOTION GRAPHICS

[@unfortunatelyrob2635]

I'm going on a trip to chicago soon and I feel like the city is already so familiar. I know so much about so many random buildings! More than my own city that I've lived in over the past 10 years!

[@eric_has_no_idea]

I highly recommend the Architecture tour on the river. You will see many of the buildings covered on this channel, and others like it. I'm a local, and have taken it a few times. This is a great city, hope you have a great trip.

[@jfruser]

Two things NOT to miss: 1. The Field Museum. Built back when our ruling class cared about beauty. 2. Chicago Hot Dog. A glorious mess.

[@andie3614]

Infrastructure in American cities is generally so neglected, I am always amazed and gratified to hear about initiatives like the cooling centers and mandatory green spaces described in this video. These make a big difference to those who live in cities, thanks Stewart for making them so beautifully visible to us!

[@marshallwilliams7207]

I recently visited Chicago for the NeoCon design show and can say that it is the smartest, cleanest, most well designed place I've ever visited. I can't wait to go back.

[@faheemabbas3965]

I just wish it wasn’t so terrible to live in otherwise. Illinois’ taxes are why it’s losing so many people.

[@eric_has_no_idea]

It's a great city to live and work in. It really is so much cleaner then pretty much every large city. The building with NEOCON is a great example of re-fitting for efficiency. I worked there several times over the past few decades. The Merchandise Mart has a few good documentaries on it. It uses the system in this episode. It might still be the world's largest LEED Silver building. I'll completely disagree with the other reply. The population loss was a mistake, and corrected by a revision of the census. Taxes are high, but services are also much better than most other places. Hope your next trip is as fun, there are endless things to do here.

[@earthandwind820]

It’s also super green in the neighborhoods compared to other cities I’ve been too. Person above is right about the taxes though…they tax us for everything

[@Clementinee]

@@earthandwind820 2nd highest property taxes behind only New Jersey, 10% sales tax, and a flat income tax. It's hard to not stay poor living here lol

[@earthandwind820]

@@Clementinee I was born in Jersey and most of my family is from there too 🫣 I remember going to school in Wisconsin and was shocked that a movie cost like $6 and there was no entertainment tax or none of that garbage lol Then I lived bordering NY/NJ and had a friend from Delaware who said they didn’t have taxes on clothes, so on and so forth. Taxes here are insane

[@IanZainea1990]

I live in an old building like the manadnock building. brick, foot thick walls, it doesn't heat up until late after noon, and by morning it's cool again. pretty sweet.

[@mrwedge18]

"Air conditioners push the heat outside" _Technology Connections flashbacks_

[@humanecities]

Thoughtful design can solve a lot of issues. Ideally we have codes that keep our projects in line with creating beautiful, efficient, healthy, etc spaces… but it seems like we wait for tragedies before implementing these principles. I think that’s why it’s important to fill out city surveys, show up to council meetings, contact your representatives, etc. We can make our voices heard, and hopefully make a difference without waiting for tragedies.

[@marymccluer1630]

These were great examples of different ways to keep cities cool in ways that don't generate more heat. The multi-building chiller unit seemed to be acting like a giant heat pump. Green roofs are great in that they reduce the heat on roofs and also can act as a green corridor for migratory birds and insects. It interesting to see ways tropical and semi-tropical communities have found to stay cool. Ancient Rome often built homes around central courtyards with a pool. Medieval homes from North Africa to Iran featured wind tunnels. The Palace at Versailles had vaulted ceilings. In modern Malasia, many homes are tri-level with central stairways. All of these used the stack effect to pull hot air up and out of buildings while bringing cool air in. One of the best uses of the stack effect is a large mall in urban Harai. It was built to mimic the way termite mounds maintain cool temperatures in extreme outdoor heat.

[@BS-vx8dg]

Stewart is getting real fancy with the videos. It's nice, but what has always drawn me to you stuff is you clear writing, calm articulation, and, of course, visuals (which were usually still in the past). I'm okay with the ziparounds and all, but don't forget to stay focused on the writing, which I think is your greatest talent.

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you. It's summer, so I'm not teaching and can dedicate more time to videos. I'm definitely working on writing and visuals together. Actually, feeling more confident about the writing let's me coordinate it with the visuals more fully. It's a win win. Thanks for the feedback!

[@jasonbrady4894]

Amazing video as always, but you missed a detail at 9:55 😂

[@ajkandy]

“MOTION GRAPHICS” is the key to urban cooling

[@stewarthicks]

Ugh!

[@kelownatechkid]

Motion Graphics indeed! 😁 Stewart I have no idea how you do it. Fabulous video! Makes me think of Toronto's DWLC system.

[@kholt1776]

I love Chicago

[@faheemabbas3965]

Just wish it’s ever-increasing taxes went away and stopped being the reason people are moving out of Illinois in huge masses. It’s about to be a beautiful city with potential, gone to waste.

[@eric_has_no_idea]

​@@faheemabbas3965- the population thing was an error that was corrected. We gained population. Taxes here are high, but when you look at the whole picture, lower insurance rates, availability of services by the state, county, city. Quality of services, social services, utility costs, it's a wash. Everyone I know that fled have been complaining about everything like how much water is, having to pay for more-expensive garbage services, other taxes, it's not as straightforward. Several are moving back because of this last round of power outages in TX, third big one in three years.

[@arjunchakravarti1015]

One of the best educators out there. Tremendous work.

[@catlovernat]

This video gives me a lot of hope for the incredibly warm future we're looking towards

[@briansieve]

I love the engaging way you introduce concepts of architecture that better harmonize with our planet

[@ISawABear]

I always loved the city Design in the game Mirror's Edge because i could tell they white clean look of the architecture was also designed to limit Heat Island effects

[@pices73]

I'm a building engineer at NU. Love your videos. But video is what I deal with every day.

[@ottovonjizzmark9864]

Sko ‘Cats!

[@stephenmoerlein8470]

As a non-architect, I am always amazed by the juxtaposition of art aesthetics and scientific engineering that are melded together in buildings. Thanks for the educational content.

[@profdc9501]

Chicago has always engaged in extremely ambitious engineering projects: reversing the course of a river, giant underground tunnels, giant wastewater treatment plants, raising up the entire downtown of the city, and miles of skyscrapers. The greatest challenges are yet to come, with floods and droughts due to climate change, and underinvestment in public transportation. On the whole, however, Chicago is in a pretty good shape to thrive in the 21st century.

[@eric_has_no_idea]

There are lots of smaller projects to keep the city going too. I agree, we have lots of these projects. People complain about taxes, but this is what we do with the money. Up by me, they built a diversion for the river during the increasing frequent floods(www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/cdot/supp_info/albany-park-stormwater-diverson-tunnel.html). Since they built it, it has done it's job nicely.

[@GreenspudTrades]

It can have a great future if its residents don't burn it down.

[@louiss.7765]

Chicago will be the last American city just because of geographical location.

[@coffeytnmilk]

Well done! It was great that you were able to cover these subjects within one city. It was also insightful to understand the change of demand cities and buildings have over time.

[@AlanTheBeast100]

Chicago should do as Toronto and use the lake as a huge heat sink. Lay pipe out about 100 km to the bottom where the temperature is about 5°C and pump the water to the city district cooling plants as the "pre-cooler", then far less energy would be required for the final "push". Pipes leaving the city could go to fountains that shoot the warmed water in a huge "spray column" to cool the water back down (or return pipe spreaders near the surface).

[@user-gz1fg4og5j]

The quality of these videos just keeps getting better, Stewart!. One of the best educators out there. Tremendous work..

[@BGTuyau]

A fascinating, instructive first look at an unseen but essential aspect of Chicago's built environment. Another nice job by Professor Hicks.

[@nannerz1994]

Thanks for explaining how that cooling building near the Sears Tower works. When I was a tour guide I always had a hard time figuring out something to say besides "it cools buildings"

[@tombaker674]

Important topic, Great presentation. I work in a hot-humid climate zone with different conditions to deal with, but I found this presentation useful.

[@barryrobbins7694]

One of the major defects in many apartments is the lack of cross ventilation, often having windows on only one side.

[@catherinesanchez1185]

I grew up in a 1979 split level house , all electric. Opening windows accomplished nothing cuz the house was designed to operate with AC . My mother refused to turn the AC on during the summer to save $$. I would walk a mile to the town old Carnegie library and stay there til dinner . My last house I purchased , was built in 1929 and even though it wasn’t anything fancy it received the most awesome ventilation when the windows were open . This bought me a couple “ free” months from my utility company every year and saved me $$. Our ancestors built to be comfortable and safe . They were not stupid , so it’s great that we are rediscovering all the terrific and fairly easy ideas that they utilized . Love these videos ! I learn a lot and they give me hope for the future .

[@tylero8595]

Stewart, I love you videos. I'm a mechanical contractor in Vancouver, Canada. Please do more of these videos. Building systems are where its at.

[@tmcb_]

Echoing an earlier comment that your videos just get better and better. It's fascinating to me how we're having to relearn passive cooling from buildings like the Monadnock.

[@Niespe99]

Thanks for this video! Im finishing a masters in sustainable architecture and energy efficiency, lots of the concepts im familiar by now but the visual representation and the simple explanations are on point!

[@kellydeak7781]

I wish I had this video when I was in my Environmental technology class. Seeing how these terms are used in a real life example is so helpful

[@ScottTooley]

I live in South Carolina, but am heading to Chicago in a few weeks for a vacation. Thanks to you, I now have even more useless knowledge about the city that my wife and kids will absolutely not care about when I mention it, re-mention it, and trice mention it.

[@keesottens4446]

crazy to see how much growth this channel has gone through and every keeps getting better

[@The_Smith]

Great video Stewart. It might seem overwhelming but lots of little things add up. When I built on to my house, I followed building practices from when the original section of the house was built, windows that open, venitian blinds, thick stucco exterior, And I do live in a part of the world where it does get cool at night (I.E. it was 9 C here this morning) but I am able to keep my place comfortable cool.

[@jasonreed7522]

And another important tactic, your home is a several kWh thermal battery. Open all the windows at night and let the hot air out and the cool air in, and then in the morning shut the windows and close the blinds, a well insulated house doing this may not even get uncomfortably warm before its cooled off again outside. Obviously this strategy has limits, like if it doesn't actually cool down at night or you are in a perpetually humid environment. Even if you aren't striving for a perfect "passive house" that doesn't need AC or heat, just implementing such techniques can dramatically lower your energy usage, and therefore energy bills. Personally the lowest hanging fruit is the white roof, it rejects sunlight before it can become heat, and in the winter when you want that heat your roof is covered in snow anyway so you weren't getting any heat from it.

[@davidwashington0]

I went to Loyola, Schriber Center was easily my favorite building!

[@duhvn]

great vid. I pass these buildings all the time and work at the Old Post Office on Van Buren. So cool to learn about them. thanks for the effort you put into this

[@AmaraJordanMusic]

Really cool video! (Pun not intended, but also not regretted!) I’ve heard of several of these techniques, but seeing them all being used together is really interesting! Keep up the awesome!

[@thefareplayer2254]

I love how the video length is Chicago’s area code.

[@stewarthicks]

😂

[@telly_0]

I struggle with the noise that comes from air conditioners, so I'm a huge fan of any kind of passive cooling technology, even if it's over a hundred years old!

[@miles5600]

There are completely silent AC’s though but i really like the thick façade technique and the passive cooling technique between the façade and the classrooms. Real cool

[@telly_0]

@@miles5600 Which AC's are completely silent? Are you talking about residential AC's, because those have always been very loud in my experience.

[@miles5600]

@@telly_0 daikin had some silent ductless AC’s but they’ve also got ducted AC installs that’re noice less and pushing around a lot of air. Ductless AC’s are thise wall hung units and ducted installs are the ones that heat and cool complete homes also known as central AC

[@telly_0]

@@miles5600 I see. Yeah, the compressor parts of all of those make noise unfortunately, which is unpleasant if your bedroom is right next to it.

[@miles5600]

@@telly_0 i’m not sure if you can hear those quiet compressors from daikin with a room next to it, my house is made from brick and concrete so that might make a difference.

[@johnl5316]

The library in Athens built the Niarchos family is covered by a wonderful vegetation covered hill

[@robertcolletta8083]

Love the production quality, easily one of the best educational channels here! Would love to offer some pro-bono drone content for you- I'm based out the Milwaukee area. Cheers!

[@teosoto0360]

so cool to see Loyola Chicago buildings on your videos once i moved to Chicago for Loyola i watched all your chicago planning and city videos, its coming full circle

[@aes53]

Great video Stewart, a little thermo before breakfast. A lot of the temperature control methods you outlined are part and parcel to how you control temperature in a spacecraft. There is no atmosphere outside the spacecraft that heat can be transferred to convectively, it all has to be done radiatively. The shiny blankets you see over the spacecraft in the old Apollo photographs are thermal control blankets. They are Teflon with film of aluminum coated on the back with black paint.

[@stewarthicks]

Very interesting!

[@een_schildpad]

This was a fun watch! District cooling actually makes a lot of sense, I'm surprised we don't see more use of district heating and cooling in cities since it's so efficient and removes the need for each building to maintain their own system.

[@PixelatedLlama]

Indianapolis has district cooling as well. I read somewhere that Indianapolis' district cooling & steam heating utilities are the second biggest in the country, behind only NYC. Interestingly, the OneAmerica tower in Indianapolis is cooled by an aquifer. The water is then sent to the Downtown Canal, which is what is left of a failed 1800s project to build a canal from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River.

[@austindzik4702]

In 2019 as apart of the Old Post Office project a pipeline from production plant 2 was dug under the river to service new building like the BMO Harris tower on canal

[@fishnsyd]

The production quality of this video is top notch!

[@illiniEE]

No AC at 90 degrees and it is cool in Paris. We are on the 5th (6th floor in US) floor, 1880 building - the front of our apartment faces northwest. Up high we always have lots of light all day. The back of our apartment faces southeast. We get sun in the morning in back and direct sunlight in the late afternoon in front. We use sun shades in the morning on the windows on the courtyard side and close our shutters on the windows on our balcony at about 5:30 PM in front and open them back up at 10 PM when the sun starts to set. We can open the windows at night and in the morning and get great airflow through the apartment. There is a cool breeze flowing through right now. We also open the guest room window on our apartment's second floor (attached chambre de bonne) and get great airflow up the stairs and out that window. Our building has the stairs at the back of the building (courtyard side) and that doesn't get much direct sun on the lower floors so there is not much thermal load retained in the stone. We keep windows open in the building stairwell and that keeps the internal stairway cool on even hot days. So with a little active thermal management it stays very comfortable in the summer. The breeze through the apartment is very pleasant. I think the Hausmannian architects actually knew what they were doing.

[@lb012006]

Wow i pass by District Cooling #2 plant almost weekly and never knew this. Very impressive.

[@filibertogarced]

Quite interesting. Thank you for sharing. Great video 🎉

[@TeddiACular]

Like honestly Chicago is so underrated and yet it’s always a step ahead of everyone! Best city in the USA for sure

[@redlabel7833]

Great video as always. I love your interviews !

[@Southpaw128]

it’s important to note that while these green infrastructure interventions are concentrated in Chicago’s downtown, the vast majority of those that died from the 95 heat wave were elderly in disinvested neighborhoods. Social isolation from streets with high vacancy and foreclosures, lack of close accessible services and businesses within walking distance, lack of outreach and poor ems response times, and high crime that kept people inside through fear among other factors contributed to the high death rate in certain neighborhoods. As harsh climate events continue, resiliency needs to be built into the human and social infrastructure of our cities, not just the physical infrastructure in high economically performing central business districts.

[@SylvesterAshcroft88]

I thought you were standing in a park, I've never seen anything like that in the UK, that's really cool!

[@Neosoul_prima]

One thing about my hometown, is that it's always inventing. Then a lot of cities follow. Chicago, is definitely a place that people need to know

[@mhollis1231]

Always quality content, thanks for the video

[@sIosha]

Looking back at how buildings can be designed to be cooler is like looking back to trains, bicycling, and walking to get around our cities 😁

[@superfluous9726]

Gotta love how most solutions to urban and ecological issues is literally just doing what we were doing 100+ years ago

[@CatLover-23]

Yeah, True tho... I just Love People who Move in Solutions and Problem Solvers if Possible to do so.. We get, understand & see the "Problems"... But No One Dives into "Solutions".. And There ARE Solutions... But since it's Not where the $$$ lies,. And Happiness,. We are only Stuck with The Problems.

[@otherSmallCities]

Love all of this! Amazing.

[@JohnFromAccounting]

I love seeing how our architectural tradition can teach important lessons so we can improve for the future.

[@KamiInValhalla]

I have been to Millennium Park and if you told me I was on a roof I would not believe you. That's cool. Literally!

[@Guavauava]

The Monadnock building is a great example of how we should look to the past if we truly want to be sustainable. People found ways to stay cool long before A/C was a thing. Bricks and earthen building materials are natural, durable and ecofriendly, and really effective at regulating humidity and temperature. Rammed earth buildings that were built hundreds of years ago are not only still standing but are still occupied in China, Iran, Morocco, Italy, Africa, and across the mediterranean. Many of these places dont use a/c because the building’s structural elements are often sufficient. Traditional building practices are time tested and should be embraced if we wish to be carbon neutral and sustainable.

[@veramae4098]

The death of mature elm trees across the U.S. by disease, was a stunning blow to cities. After watching a lot of videos, I had a whole house ceiling fan installed. Turn it on when its dark, usually turn it off before I go to bed. Sometimes run it again briefly when I get up. On VERY hot days I leave it on all night. I've messed around with lots of fans, AC, and this is by the far the best for cooling. And a LOT cheaper. Highly recommend.

[@roberttaylor9259]

A few years ago I got interested in a design element but couldn't find a word for it . Turns out there isn't an english word but there is one in spanish, ventana abocinada. It means flared windows or openings. Essentially you've seen it a dozen times where a building will have windows with bevels around it and its inset. This allows for a wider field of views and daylight but the bevel creates a deep overhang. Designers will also angle each bevel per window to block out sunlight for that specific window. I'd urge you to look into the word. It's a common practice but sometimes we need a tangible word before something becomes concrete in our design thinking.

[@Josh-yr7gd]

All my apartment windows face the east. As long as I keep the blinds closed in the morning during the summer, it stays rather cool throughout the day. I never need my ac unit, which saves a ton of money. It would have to be well into the 90's before I need to turn on the ceiling fan and the only time I open the windows is just to provide ventilation to remove stagnant air.

[@cherylm2C6671]

Thank you for explaining the centralized system. It rather suggests what can be done on a small scale without too much disruption in older neighborhoods. Greenwalls are very economical thermal buffers.

[@I_Cypher]

Great video, this is also the first ad I’ve been sold on.

[@hametsylla2064]

Planting the Miyawaki forests in the empty plots in the interchange roads can be very beneficial in cooling the surrounding environment. Good job Chicago keep moving❤❤❤

[@dumbtex6107]

I’ve been to many places and was lucky enough to spend a month in Chicago. By far one of my favorite cities it’s often overlooked because of the crime but it’s a real gem! Also checkout brown bag near the cloud for food.

[@bkunz4388]

Really cool video. Thanks!

[@standardannonymousguy]

I''ve always thought that the electric grid, being mainly made up of metallic parts, would produce a lot of heat and store it. However, it is more likely that automobiles, which are also made of metal, are among the largest heat producers in a city. The farther they drive, the more heat they collect. Once parked, they become constant radiators of heat.

[@GeeT-yt2eh]

Or millions of people in a small space living in metallic buildings on top of an asphalt parking lot…but your small brain thinks it’s cars 😂

[@sirBrouwer]

A parked car is not really a issue. the most heat created is from the friction between the wheels and the road. the more friction the more heat. the biggest creator of heat in a city is our own sewage. you can notice it when it is snowing the first part that is snow/ice free will be a manhole connected to the sewer.

[@scottwendt9575]

We have several smart structures here in MN that most people don’t realize…. Mall of America doesn’t use any central heating. It maintains 70 degrees in January with the use of solar skylights, ambient heat from mechanical systems and lighting and the body heat of shoppers. And many other malls use heat pumps. In fact, up until 10 years ago one of the corporate HQ’s was getting all its heating and AC from groundwater using just a 50hp electric pump.

[@Tailfeather-Studio]

Do you have any suggestions on where I could learn more about the cooling system that Chicago has implemented? I'm starting graduate studies in urban planning in the fall and would love to be able to bring more knowledge on this to the table.

[@RKTGX95]

similar to the schreiber center, there is another passive cooling method for buildings called a Windcatcher.

[@malikdaniyel146]

Great video, you have peak my interests in cool air consumption.

[@cookiecutter6818]

Amazing video, learned so much as a green architecture student

[@sivelti3914]

I really liked the visuals in this video. Great video overall.

[@jfruser]

If we ever build a house it will have a wrap-around _covered_ porch, large exterior windows (shaded by roof over porch), interior transom windows, and a cupola up top to vent out hot air (with solar-powered fan to draw in air from the exterior windows, through the rooms, then hallway, into the center and then up the cupola.

[@alylibri]

so cool to see my university featured in this video. wasn't expecting it but after watching, i am not surprised!

[@kevincabral6749]

Great job!!

[@raunaq95]

As a urban design student this video is very useful!

[@TN88121]

I'm sure you've been called out on this already lol but I think you left in a template motion graphic at 9:56. Great video thought!

[@chantra244]

Chicago literally is built different 😅. Glad to call this place my home.

[@davidmccarthy6061]

I don't know that some of this was on purpose, but it's nice it turned out as a help, other than the district cooling. We need to go back to the old ways!

[@saranbhatia8809]

Great content great presentation

[@kelvinw.1384]

Question, would you not say that Chicago have Alleys downtown and the spacing it gives, also helps with Ground Heat and wind dissipation.

[@Zer0Blizzard]

I wonder if there's geothermal cooling solutions being used as well. Ground soil temperature is generally 50-65F, depending on depth.

[@dennisenright9347]

When comparing the century old office building to the one built in the sixties, how does there energy use compare in February? I would think that the solar gain in the glass walled building would cut down on heating costs. Do buildings in Chicago generally demand more energy for heating or cooling on an annual basis?

[@seigeengine]

I mean, I feel it's more the verticality of cities that poses a problem for heat. It means that light that falls on cities is almost complete absorbed, and heat gets trapped because in almost any direction it's emitted, it runs right into something else, as opposed to being able to freely escape upwards. On top of that, it restricts air flow, meaning it's harder for the air to carry heat away.

[@kamilzowczak3607]

This is the first Brilliant ad that made me think it's actually for me, not for high schoolers. Nice!

[@beback_]

Would wind catchers work here or is that only good for dry climates?