Mission
The Bronzeville Trail Task Force serves as the community stewards of the Bronzeville Trail; offering an independent voice while working closely with all stakeholders to ensure that the Trail is a vibrant, inclusive part of the Bronzeville Trail Community corridor.
The Bronzeville Trail Landscape Initiative (BTLI) documents and develops a community-based landscape narrative, guidelines, and tools to shape the future of the Bronzeville Trail along the decommissioned Kenwood rail line. Constructed by black laborers during the Great Migration, whose names and contributions remain largely unknown, the Kenwood Line stands as a vital yet under-recognized historical remnant. Through archival, experiential, and performative research, BTLI uncovers and interprets the stories of those impacted by the line’s construction and those shaped by its legacy, with artists and creatives translating these narratives into public events and performances.
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A joint effort between the Bronzeville Trail Task Force (BTTF) and Botanical City, BTLI brings together planners, historians, ecologists, creatives, and technical experts to explore the cultural, ecological, and built history of the trail and surrounding area.
About BTTF
The Bronzeville Trail Task Force is a Chicago-based nonprofit dedicated to building support for the Bonzeville Trail. Its mission is to create a vibrant, sustainable community space that supports wildlife, reduces pollution, and celebrates local culture, history, and ecology.
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About Botanical City
Botanical City is an urban and landscape design firm committed to design justice. By merging art and science, it fosters long-term creative processes rooted in ancestral knowledge and responsive to endangered environments and overlooked public spaces. Through investigative research, planning, and visual methods, Botanical City calls attention to endangered environments and the need for nontraditional public urban spaces.
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BTLI aligns with and is supported by the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place program, which supports deeper, more complex storytelling of American histories and lived experiences. The program uplifts diverse voices and encourages innovative approaches to rethinking how and where our stories are told; whether through physical sites, media, museums, or ephemeral experiences.
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By centering community voices and embedding educational storytelling and participatory design, BTLI preserves and expands the trail’s cultural and ecological significance. It fosters local ownership and ensures the trail continues to reflect and meet the evolving needs of its community.
1. Develop a Comprehensive Landscape Research, Documentation, and Dissemination Framework (Phase 1):
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Conduct Archival Research to vividly document and animate the human experiences and evolving narratives associated with the neighborhood's transformation, reflecting local and regional developments​
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Implement Lived Stories Research by organizing and documenting preservation learn-ins and workshops to highlight the contributions of Black culture and legacy residents in shaping the city.​
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Advance Blooming Habitats and Narratives by producing short interpretive video stories that capture the existing area's biological richness, and ecological and spatial qualities, resulting from the occupation and patience conditions over the years and enhancing local ecological awareness.
2. Enhance Landscape Interpretation, Vision, and Design (Phase 2):
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Foster Landscape Interpretation to introduce innovative storytelling formats and public education methods, including interactive community learn-ins encouraging participants to engage creatively with content. Residents, stakeholders, artists, and experts propose urban landscape ideas for the future trail and neighborhood, focusing on celebrating the historical and cultural insights gained in Phase I​.
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Create Landscape Performances to explore and define interpretive themes that can be integrated into the trail’s design and programming, enriching the user experience and contextual relevance.​
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Develop Landscape Principles and Guidelines that offer detailed strategies for tree planting, artistic installations, and public space design, ensuring these elements harmoniously integrate into the overall landscape architecture. This step will transform inputs into public space principles and guidelines to lead the urban regeneration through strategies emerging from the historical, cultural, and ecological specificity of the place and the residents.