By 9.00 a.m. each day, the average Chicagoan creates 25 gallons of wastewater by showering, using the toilet, washing her hands and brushing her teeth. Multiply that times 8 million people in Chicagoland, and you’ve got a lot of wastewater running through a lot of sewers (under a lot of streets) on its way to lots of giant, centralized treatment plants. What if we could clean that water closer to home? What if the process could be educational? Or multi-functional? Or even beautiful? UrbanLab’s Block Party project proposes exactly that: localized mini-water treatment facilities that double as bus shelters, food kiosks, bike stations and recycling centers while they scrub water with efficient, organic filtering systems. They’re like a larger version of the hydroponic gardens you buy at the hobby shop—one the whole neighborhood can enjoy as it cleans our water in time to start the process again tomorrow morning.