Green Cities: Urban Sustainability Driving America's Climate Change Policies
This report represents an effort by Living Cities to highlight the innovative ways in which cities are creating an equitable green economy. The document makes the case for why cities should be at the forefront of carbon reduction efforts in the U.S., presents findings from a survey of the programs and policies of forty of the nation’s biggest cities and makes recommendations about next-step strategies and policies for cities interested in producing greener buildings, greener jobs and accessible transit for low-income residents.
The report breaks down cities’ efforts to create an equitable green economy into three primary areas:
- Green retrofits of existing buildings, including recommendations about organizational structure, funding, workforce development needs and marketing for demand creation
- Strategic green economic and workforce development, including recommendations about reforming the existing system, creating more industry-responsive training and focusing training on disadvantaged workers
- Improving access to transit, including recommendations about reducing local barriers to transit and transit-oriented development, the importance of density and strategies for maintaining mixed-income and mixed-use development near transit nodes
This report is a good overview of the burgeoning “green cities” movement, drawing recommendations from expert interviews, a comprehensive survey of forty large urban areas and focused study of a number of local initiatives. It is an excellent background document and will be most helpful to cities that are just beginning their sustainability efforts.
Any change to an existing facility, such as the adjustment, connection, or disconnection of equipment.A term typically applied to real estate development projects that combine residential and commercial or retail components.
