15 ways to fix Navy Pier

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Illustration: Ian Dingman

11. Wow kids with an underwater fish-viewing area.
People love fish. Just ask the Shedd Aquarium, which packs ’em in on weekends. The pier could function as a Great Lakes–focused outpost of the Shedd: In a shallow, warm area of the pier, create a suitable habitat with native plants and boulders. The Shedd’s experts say that’ll attract fish, including smallmouth bass, yellow perch, salmon, trout and the occasional round goby and zebra mussel. Add a giant window below water level and, voilà, it’s an urban, aquatic paradise.—Madeline Nusser