The large trucks driving past even larger factory chimneys sure don't make this Chicago road look like the greenest street in the U.S. But their tires roll over new smog-eating pavement, the streetlights run on solar and wind power and the sidewalks were made with recycled concrete.

The city of Chicago has been experimenting with greener approaches to urban planning for years as part of a project to lessen the impacts of climate change. The US$14 million (approximately NT$420 million) project to redesign three kilometers of the industrial Pilsen neighborhood uses pretty much everything city planners could come up with to cut energy use, fight pollution and reduce waste.

Amazingly, the total cost of this development was 21-percent less than a traditional road resurfacing project and is expected to be cheaper to maintain. It could now become a template for cities around the world as countries adapt to the impacts of a warming world. "These are critical issues for cities to address," said Karen Hobbs, a water analyst with the U.S. Natural Resources Defense Council.

For this project, Chicago decided to improve public transportation and add bicycle lanes to cut pollution, which also improves citizens' quality of life. Cutting energy use by using more efficient street light bulbs or installing the mini solar and wind power stations not only helps to reduce pollution but also saves money.

Chicago is also the first city in the U.S. to use the smog-eating cement. The seemingly magical material was first developed when the Vatican wanted to build a church to celebrate the 2,000th anniversary of Christianity that would stay white despite Rome's pollution.

To try to achieve this goal, Italian cement company Italcemeti developed a product that reacts to sunlight and essentially cleans the surface of the church by speeding up the decomposition process. After applying the product, the company discovered that it wasn't just cleaning the dirt off the church, but was also cleaning the air up to 2.5 meters above the roof's surface.

Because it's significantly more costly than traditional pavement, Chicago is only using it for the bicycle and parking lanes along one stretch of road. Project manager Janet Attarian insists that while the smog-eating pavement is pretty impressive, it is the combination of all the different technologies that will make a real difference.

"I really hope this project inspires people to think about the full range of opportunities that are available," Attarian said. "We tend to take roads for granted, and think 'Oh, it's just a road. What can we do about it?' But there's actually a lot we can do to make roads greener."

Chicago planners also decided to lessen the environmental impact of the project by using something more commonplace: recycling. Twenty-three percent of the materials for the project came from recycled sources. And 60 percent of the waste caused by the project's construction was also recycled. This showed building companies a new way to cut costs.

The city also chose to use drought-resistant plants in the neighborhood as they will be able to withstand the hotter summers forecast as a result of climate change without wasting fresh water.

The city is currently drafting new guidelines that will incorporate many of these green approaches as requirements for any new roadwork project in the future. "These infrastructure projects last for 50 to 100 years, so you have to get them right," Attarian said. "You have to be designing for the future, not just the present."