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The Plant Chicago (EXT-006)

The Plant Chicago is documented in the DePaul Resource Map as external partner at DePaul University, External partner organization, The Plant (community living laboratory), Off-campus (Back of the Yards, Chicago). Documentation is partial or indirect, so the listing is treated as likely current. Access: 🟡 Yellow — Needs an appointment or affiliation.

Summary 🟡 ~

  • College / school: External partner organization
  • Sub-unit: The Plant (community living laboratory)
  • Campus/Location: Off-campus (Back of the Yards, Chicago)
  • Last Verified: May 30, 2026

Access (availability): 🟢 Green — open or routine · 🟡 Yellow — appointment or affiliation · 🔴 Red — restricted · ⚪/⚫ White/Black — not yet classified

Verification: ✓ confirmed · ~ likely · ? needs review · ✕ archived

Organization

The Plant is a Chicago living laboratory and business incubator demonstrating circular-economy practices—reimagining waste as resource, closing energy loops, and hosting small food and sustainability ventures in a repurposed industrial building.

Access status

  • Access: 🟡 Yellow — Needs an appointment or affiliation
  • Rationale: The Plant Chicago collaboration is community/partner-based; DePaul access is through SPARK and engaged courses, not open equipment checkout on a DePaul page.
  • Access URL: plantchicago.org
  • Contact name: SPARK Center
  • Contact email: spark@depaul.edu
  • Verification date: 2026-05-30
  • Source URLs:
  • plantchicago.org
  • spark.depaul.edu

Relationship to DePaul

SPARK Center (UNI-003) collaborates with The Plant on a sensor-driven digital twin project: energy and heat data collected on-site are visualized in real time to educate policymakers, engineers, and students and to demonstrate replicable sustainability models.

Known collaborations & connections

  • SPARK The Plant partner project: sensor array deployment, real-time 3D/digital-twin visualization, and public education outputs (SPARK partner projects).
  • DePaul coverage of SPARK launch referenced environmental data-driven neighborhood collaboration (DePaulia — SPARK debut via SPARK news links).

Collaborative documents

Document type Scope Parties Status Source
Project collaboration Sensor data collection and digital-twin visualization The Plant ↔ DePaul SPARK Publicly described on SPARK site SPARK — The Plant
Formal MOU / data-sharing agreement Data rights, sensor installation, publication The Plant ↔ DePaul Not publicly posted Map verification (May 2026)

Verification

  • Status: ~ Likely current
  • Rationale: Major external partner maintains active public website and standard user/membership access pathways; DePaul relationship documented on map.
  • Last verified: 2026-05-30
  • Evidence:
  • Partner primary website reachable (May 2026)
  • DePaul cross-references and partnership notes in resource map (May 2026)
  • Plant Chicago site active
  • SPARK collaboration noted

Equipment

External nonprofit partner; not DePaul inventory.

Last verified: July 29, 2026.

Contacts (resource-level)

People & contacts

Named contacts when publicly documented.

Source URL

Official links are listed under Contacts above.

Documented Relationships

Community sustainability partner for SPARK data visualization and digital-twin work.

Notes

Community partner only; do not list Plant building systems as DePaul equipment.