Our first pilot project: 90 days after planting from plugs

Restoring Urban Ecosystems, both digitally & in real life

Parkway Prairies is a Chicago-based ecological design studio. We restore native pollinator habitat in Chicago parkways and build free, science-backed simulation tools that teach urban ecology.

© 2026 Parkway Prairies LLC. All rights reserved.Privacy: Information collected via our application forms is used strictly for ecological assessment and neighborhood communication. We will never sell your data.Disclaimer: Parkway Prairies LLC is a private ecological design studio and is not affiliated with the City of Chicago. Homeowners are responsible for contacting J.U.L.I.E. (811) prior to any digging to locate underground utilities but Parkway Prairies will assist with this. By hosting a "Planting Party," homeowners assume all liability for physical installation and volunteer safety.

What We DoRebuilding Chicago's wildlife corridors through community action and ecological design - and creating free educational tools that teach the science behind it.Parkway Prairies is an Avondale-based ecological design studio. We partner with neighbors to transform concrete-heavy parkways into living native ecosystems. We combine ecological simulation technology with community effort to make restoration accessible, beautiful, and successful.Simulation-Designed Habitat:
We don't guess what will thrive. Our ecological simulation engine models sun, soil, moisture, and species interactions specific to your block - producing optimized, biologically diverse planting designs grounded in real data.Community Planting Parties:
We provide the ecological design, the native plants, and expert guidance at zero cost. You and your neighbors host a weekend Planting Party to get the plants in the ground. You commit to watering through the first summer. Together, we build habitat that lasts.The 1-for-1 Commitment:
Every installation we do in the field feeds data back into our free educational simulation. And every donation or sponsorship we receive funds another real native plant in a Chicago neighborhood. Digital learning and living habitat: each one sustains the other.

Apply for a free native plant garden

We are connecting Chicago's fractured green spaces by transforming concrete-heavy residential parkways into thriving native plant habitats. This brings monarchs, songbirds, and other vital pollinators back to our neighborhoods while reducing flooding and chemical runoff.Currently, we are fully sponsoring free native plant installations for eligible neighbors in the Avondale and Logan Square area. You provide the water; we provide the ecosystem.

Text or call
(312) 373-0018

Email
[email protected]

The Game

Green Fire - A Free Ecological SimulationThe ecology doesn't stop at the sidewalk. Green Fire is an interactive simulation where you heal a broken urban ecosystem by planting real Midwest native species, observing food web dynamics, and learning to read the land. 35 native plants. 66 fauna species. Four trophic tiers. Mycorrhizal networks. Seasonal cycles. All grounded in real science.Named for Aldo Leopold's essay on the Land Ethic, Green Fire is being developed as a free public educational resource - a digital companion to the real restoration work we do in Chicago's parkways. Every species in the game was chosen because it could exist in a Chicago neighborhood.Coming 2026 as a free download.

Test Plot Photos

This is a south-facing parkway in partial sun/partial shade. It was previously overgrown with daylilies, English Ivy, and Morning Glory, which are all invasive and not productive for wildlife in the Chicago region.

The site was cleared by the homeowners over a few weekends in May 2025 and was densely planted on June 1st with about 100 individual grasses and flowering plants, reflecting 14 different species native to the region.

90 Day Progress Update
June 1 to August 31

Smooth blue aster flowering after only 110 days!