Ecocities

An ecocity is a human settlement that enables its residents to live a good quality of life while using minimal natural resources.

2008 US City Sustainability RankingsCities are listed by their 2008 Rankings order. Numbers in parentheses

( ) denote 2006 Rankings.

1. Portland, OR (1)2. San Francisco, CA (2)3. Seattle, WA (3)4. Chicago, IL (4)5. New York, NY (6)6. Boston, MA (7)7. Minneapolis, MN (10)8. Philadelphia, PA (8)9. Oakland, CA (5)10. Baltimore, MD (11)11. Denver, CO (9)12. Milwaukee, WI (16)13. Austin, TX (14)14. Sacramento, CA (13)15. Washington, DC (12)16. Cleveland, OH (28)17. Honolulu, HI (15)

18. Albuquerque, NM (19)19. Atlanta, GA (38)20. Kansas City, MO (18)21. San Jose, CA (23)22. Tucson, AZ (20)23. Jacksonville, FL (36)24. Dallas, TX (24)25. Omaha, NE (37)26. San Diego, CA (17)27. New Orleans, LA (32)28. Los Angeles, CA (25)29. Louisville, KY (35)30. Columbus, OH (50)31. Detroit, MI (43)32. Phoenix, AZ (22)33. San Antonio, TX (21)34. Miami, FL (29)

35. Charlotte, NC (34)36. Houston, TX (39)37. Fresno, CA (33)38. El Paso, TX (31)39. Fort Worth, TX (46)40. Nashville, TN (42)41. Arlington, TX (41)42. Long Beach, CA (30)43. Colorado Springs, CO (26)44. Indianapolis, IN (45)45. Virginia Beach, VA (48)46. Memphis, TN (43)47. Las Vegas, NV (27)48. Tulsa, OK (40)49. Oklahoma City, OK (49)50. Mesa, AZ (47)

1. Portland, ORA Role Model for the Nation

Green row houses in Portland, Oregon

Sustainable City - Curitiba, Brazil

The city of Curitiba in Brazil is recognised as one of the world’s most sustainable cities. A city with a population of 1.8 million people situated in east Brazil, an area known for its poverty and violence, it has become an international model in ecological, social and economic sustainability.

Curitiba was one of the first cities to have a pedestrian area. This was thanks to Jaime Lerner, a planner by profession, being appointed mayor.

In 1972, the historic boulevard the Rua Quinze de Novembro, was converted virtually overnight, into a pedestrian area. Workman planted tens of thousands of flowers. The street was closed on the Friday night, when it reopened 48 hours later, it was a pedestrian area, one of the first in the world.

People took the flowers, workman added more. Protests by motorists, were met by children bearing flowers, which has led to the alternative name of the street Rua das Flores. Had this historic street not been pedestrianised, it was destined to be destroyed for an overpass, as have so many historic streets in towns and cities across the world. Cities should not only be designed for people not cars, they should be designed that people do not need cars.

The city was designed to promote equity. Buses were chosen for a simple reason: they're cheaper. (Los Angeles, take note.) The designers of Curitiba recognized that they could build an efficient, well-designed bus system at a fraction of the price of a subway system.By the 1990s, two-thirds of Curitiba's population used public transit!

Curitiba also boasts an amazing rate of recycling: approximately 2/3 of the city's waste is recycled! The money that the government makes from the recycling gets funnelled into social programs for low-income sectors, including environmental education for children. Children learn how to recycle and grow vegetables. The teenagers can use their gardening skills to earn money for their neighborhood associations.

The government instituted a program that allowed residents of favelas to turn in their trash in exchange for bus tickets or food. This greatly improves the quality of life for the urban poor. And the program doesn't cost anymore than it would cost the government to hire out a private contractor to collect the trash.

A sustainable building, or green building is an outcome of a design which focuses on increasing the efficiency of resource use — energy, water, and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment during the building's lifecycle, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal.

Impacts of the built environment:

Siting

Design

Construction

Operation

Maintenance

Renovation

Deconstruction

Energy

Water

Materials

Natural

Resources

Waste

Air pollution

Water pollution

Indoor pollution

Heat islands

Stormwater runoff

Noise

Harm to Human Health

Environment Degradation

Loss of

Resources

Aspects of Built Environment:

Consumption: Environmental Effects:

Ultimate Effects:

Green buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment by:Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation

For example, green buildings may incorporate sustainable materials in their construction (e.g., reused, recycled-content, or made from renewable resources); create healthy indoor environments with minimal pollutants (e.g., reduced product emissions); and/or feature landscaping that reduces water usage (e.g., by using native plants that survive without extra watering).

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)

World Trade Center, considered New York City's first "green" office tower by gaining gold status in the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program.

LEED was created to accomplish the following:Define "green building" by establishing a common standard of measurement

Promote integrated, whole-building design practices

Recognize environmental leadership in the building industry

Stimulate green competition

Raise consumer awareness of green building benefits Transform the building market

Sustainable sites (14 points total)Construction Activity Pollution Prevention Plan (required) Site selection (1 pt) Development density and community connectivity (1 pt) Brownfield redevelopment (1 pt) Alternative transportation availability:

Public transportation access (1 pt) Bicycle storage and changing rooms (1 pt) Low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles (1 pt) Parking capacity and carpooling (1 pt)

Reduced site disturbance: Protect or restore open space (1 pt) Development footprint (1 pt)

Stormwater management: Rate and quantity (1 pt) Treatment (1 pt)

Reduce heat islands: Roof (1 pt) Non-roof (1 pt)

Light pollution reduction (1 pt)

Greensburg, KS after EF-5 tornado struck. The city has mandated that all city buildings larger than 4,000 sq. ft. must be built to LEED-Platinum level and must have an energy performance level at least 42% better than current building code requirements.

Water efficiency (5 points total)Water efficient landscaping:

Reduce by 50% (1 pt) No potable use or no irrigation (1 pt)

Innovative wastewater technologies (1 pt) Water use reduction:

(20%) (1 pt) (30%) (1 pt)

Energy and atmosphere (17 points total)Fundamental commissioning (required) Minimum (code) energy performance (required) Fundamental Refrigerant Management (required) Optimize energy performance by 14% (new) or 7% (existing) buildings (2 pts, required as of June 26, 2007) Energy optimization (8 pts in addition to the 2 required above) On-site renewable energy (3 pts) Enhanced Commissioning (1 pt) Enhanced Refrigeration Management (1 pt) Measurement and verification (1 pt) Green power (1 pt)

Downtown mall, Charlottesville, VA, first small towns in the United States to enact green building legislation

Materials and resources (13 points total)Storage and collection of recyclables (required) Building reuse:

75% reuse of building structure and shell excluding windows (1 pt) 100% reuse of building structure and 50% of walls, floors, ceilings (1 pt)

Construction waste reuse or recycling: 50% diversion (1 pt) 75% diversion (1 pt)

Reuse of existing materials: 5% salvaged or refurbished materials (1 pt) 10% salvaged or refurbished materials (1 pt)

Recycled content: 10% recycled content (1 pt) Additional 10% (1 pt)

Use of local materials: Manufacture within and Extraction within 500 miles (800 km) of building site, 10% (1 pt) Additional 10% (1 pt)

Rapidly renewable materials (1 pt) Certified Wood (1 pt)

Indoor environmental quality (15 points total)Minimum indoor air quality (required) Environmental tobacco smoke control (required) Outdoor air delivery monitoring (1 pt) Increased ventilation (1 pt) Construction indoor air quality management (2 pt) Indoor chemical and pollutant source control (1 pt) Controllability of systems (2 pt) Thermal comfort (2 pt) Daylight and views (2 pt) Innovation and design process (5 points total)One point for having a LEED AP as a principal participant on the project. Additional points for this category are awarded above and beyond the core 64 points, and are described as rewarding strategies that go above and beyond the criteria for those points. Examples for up to four design points using steel construction include structure as finish, structure as plumbing, lightweight materials, recyclability, and potential for disassembly. (up to 4 pts)

Green buildings provide a potentially promising way to help address a range of challenges facing California, such as:

The high cost of electric power.

Worsening electric grid constraints, with associated power quality and availability problems.

Pending water shortage and waste disposal issues.

Continued state and federal pressure to cut criteria pollutants.

Growing concern over the cost of global warming.

• The rising incidence of allergies and asthma, especially in children.

• The health and productivity of workers.

• The effect of the physical school environment on children’s abilities to learn.

• Increasing expenses of maintaining and operating state facilities over time.

The 2030 Challenge

Credible scientists give us 10 years to be well on our way toward global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. Yet there are hundreds of coal-fired power plants currently on the drawing boards in the US. Seventy-six percent (76%) of the energy produced by these plants will go to operate buildings.

Architecture 2030 has issued The 2030 Challenge asking the global architecture and building community to adopt the following targets:

All new buildings, developments and major renovations shall be designed to meet a fossil fuel, GHG-emitting, energy consumption performance standard of 50% of the regional (or country) average for that building type.

At a minimum, an equal amount of existing building area shall be renovated annually to meet a fossil fuel, GHG-emitting, energy consumption performance standard of 50% of the regional (or country) average for that building type.

The fossil fuel reduction standard for all new buildings and major renovations shall be increased to:

60% in 2010 70% in 2015 80% in 2020 90% in 2025

Carbon-neutral in 2030 (using no fossil fuel GHG emitting energy to operate).

Passive solar heating during the day is stored in the surrounding earth to keep home heated at night.

Green architecture

Abstract green architecture Hundertwasser building is another great example of a contemporary green roof that is as impressive as the architecture below it is bizarre. The Waldspirale (or “forest spiral”) features over 100 apartments and wraps around a shared landscaped courtyard space with an actual flowing stream.

The roof itself features over 30,000 plants of over 70 different species and brings usable green space to a dense urban core. (Japan)

Hobbits?

The walls are made out of stone and mud and water enters the house by gravity from a nearby spring, and the roof is entirely green.

The City is committed to addressing urban growth issues impacting energy, waste reduction, urban design, urban nature, transportation, environmental health, and water.

Pasadena Municipal Code Chapter 14.90 Green Building Practices Ordinance.

Targets: Reduce energy usage 16%Reduce potable water usage 20%Reduce solid waste volumes at least 50%Achieve 50% average postconsumer recycled and/or tree-free content in all Citypaper purchasesConvert 75% of the City vehicle fleet to reduced-emission fuelsReduce wastewater flows 15%Increase total number of trees on public property by 350

Pasadena (continued)

Welcome to the web home of the City of Santa Monica, a beautiful, sustainable community on the shores of the Santa Monica Bay.

Transportation:Prosperous Partnership: A pilot transportation collaboration between Big Blue Bus and Santa Monica College reduced 1.6 million car trips in the first year thus reducing traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. Biking is Big: This year the bike valet program parked more than 20,000 bikes for free at community events around the city!

Better Buildings: The mixed-use Santa Monica Civic Center Parking Structure received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The 882 parking space structure includes 9,000 square feet of commercial retail space and a solar photovoltaic roof canopy that generates 181 kilowatts of solar electricity.

Solar Success: Solar capacity in the city has doubled launch of Solar Santa Monica. To date, there are 139 grid connected solar projects in the city representing 926 kilowatts of solar capacity.Compost Collection: The city’s food waste composting program kept more than 1 million pounds of food waste from Santa Monica restaurants out of the landfill last year.

Post-Consumer Paper: The city purchases 100% post-consumer recycled content copy paper for municipal operations. Annually, this saves an estimated 1.2 million gallons of water, 158,000 pounds of CO2 and leaves 1,700 trees standing in the forests.

Santa Monica (continued)

The Heart of the City and Strawberry Creek Plaza ProjectUtilizing ecological rebuilding and design approaches, the Heart of the City/Strawberry Creek Plaza Project proposes to demonstrate practical, sustainable solutions to the serious environmental and related social challenges facing urban communities globally.IN BERKELEY, CALIFORNIAStructurally, a Heart of the City Project in Berkeley's downtown embracing an ecologically oriented design concept would:1. Create a one block pedestrian street on Center Street between Oxford Street and Shattuck Avenue.2. Create a small public plaza.3. Incorporate a "daylighted" Strawberry Creek into the site design.4. Create buildings that utilize sustainable design principles, including solar energy. The project addresses:Automobile dependence and transportation alternatives Pedestrian streets, public space, and street design The city and region’s housing/jobs geographic imbalance The need to demonstrate effective green building design, materials, and methods Education and outreach to the community Restoration of urban waterways and green space Local biodiversity Energy conservation CO2 abatement/climate change, and related effects Linkages between environmental restoration and sustainable development

Above: An illustration showing the potential daylighting of Strawberry Creek, creating a pedestrian environment on Center Street in Berkeley, California.

Oakland Urban Villages ProjectThe Oakland Urban Villages Project combines science and technology with community education, outreach and input to describe, communicate, and achieve a shared vision for a just and sustainable city, a model city inspired, perhaps, by the other great model city, Curitiba, Brazil.

Los Angeles Looks to Re-Green its River

Photo Caption: This is an artist's rendering of parks and pathways along the Los Angeles River of the future. City officials expect the Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan, which includes parks, greenspace and over thirty miles of continuous recreational paths, to be fully implemented in 25 to 50 years. (Rendering courtesy of Monica Valencia)