Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:

5 A Path Forward: Findings and Recommendations
Pages 126-133

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 126...
... These findings and recommendations can guide academics, practitioners, policy makers, civil society, corporate leaders, and other stakeholders engaged in metropolitan regions to achieve greater sustainability and, by extension, greater global sustainability. The committee recognizes that local governments vary in their configurations, leadership structures, and offices; thus, for the purposes of this report, the following text addresses cities generally and sustainability coordinators in particular as the actors for these recommendations.
From page 127...
... emissions reduction included coal-to-gas conversion through partnerships at the regional level between the municipal power utility and the regional power utility, and at the local level, incentivized residents to invest in green electric power, achieving economic, environmental, and social benefits across all scales. In addition, municipal sustainability planners and urban leaders in Vancouver have been recognized for successfully integrating their activities across geographic scales (EIU, 2011)
From page 128...
... For example, severe water challenges exist in many different forms; shortages and droughts have been keenly felt and partially addressed by Los Angeles, prompting water usage reductions, while Flint has experienced severe drinking water quality problems, when disconnection from a municipal water source and shift to a river source yielded corrosive water. In contrast, New York City generally has an abundant high-quality water supply, though short-duration droughts occur periodically.
From page 129...
... Of the cities investigated for this report, no durable sustainability initiatives were observed that did not include some form of partnering. The Long Beach Aquarium has an extensive list of local, state, and national partners on a variety of projects and endeavors, while Grand Rapids and Chattanooga receive broad-based community support, in both cases through the partnership of business leadership with local government and citizen engagement to facilitate comprehensive sustainability approaches, e.g., the Grand Rapids Area Community Sustainability Partnership and Chattanooga's Vision 2000 (Hundt et al., 2009; Price, 2011)
From page 130...
... Sustainability plans should strive to have measureable characteristics that enable tracking and assessment of progress, minimally along environmental, social, and economic lines. BOX 5-1 Sustainability Plans for the Profile Cities Los Angeles: GreenLA, Climate LA, Sustainability pLAn New York City: PlaNYC, OneNewYork, New York Panel on Climate Change Vancouver: Greenest City 2020 Action Plan Philadelphia: Greenworks Plans Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan Version 2.0 Chattanooga: The Chattanooga Climate Action Plan Grand Rapids: City of Grand Rapids Sustainability Plan Cedar Rapids: iGreenCR Flint: Imagine Flint -- Master Plan for a Sustainable Flint
From page 131...
... More broadly, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York City all provide examples wherein sustainability planning combines equity, environmental, and resilience policies (City of Los Angeles, 2007; NYC Office of the Mayor, 2015a; Philadelphia Managing Director's Office, 2015)
From page 132...
... Similarly, most urban areas do not have established and funded mechanisms for updating and revising sustainability plans to reflect changes in climate-related conditions. Recommendation 9: Cities should adopt comprehensive sustainability metrics that are firmly underpinned by research.
From page 133...
... We have seen numerous and varied change across all the city profiles -- polluted cities transform themselves into green, vibrant places, and cities with failing industries can diversify their economies. Furthermore, managing tradeoffs among the three dimensions of sustainability while aiming to maximize total net benefits relative to costs is an integral part of the sustainability process.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.