The City After Abandonment

Chapter 11. The Promise of Sustainability Planning for Regenerating Older Industrial Cities

CHAPTER 11 The Promise of Sustainability Planning for Regenerating Older Industrial Cities Joseph Schilling and Raksha Vasudevan Sustainability ha s b ecome a c ritical p olicy a nd planning goal, w ith hundreds of cities launching sustainability initiatives to address threats of global climate change, depleted fossil fuels, and water scarcity. As a conceptual framework that seeks balance among environmental, economic, and social values, sustainability offers a “multigenerational vision of community building that is green, profitable and equitable.” Translating its broad principles into practice is a complex but promising planning endeavor undertaken in the United States by growing cities confronting urban sprawl such as Seattle , Portland, and jurisdictions in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sustainability’s h olistic v ision c ould p rovide sh rinking c ities w ith a planning framework to c atalyze their regeneration. These older industrial cities, p rimarily i n t he Gr eat L akes r egion, ha ve e xperienced subs tantial population loss a nd property aba ndonment but c ould play a “ distinctive and vital role” in a low-carbon world as they find ways of transforming vacant properties into opportunities for local agriculture, renewable energy, and compact, semirural villages. Neighborhood-scale and citywide greening initiatives could rejuvenate urban ecology a nd reconfigure t he excess built environment that remains after decades of depopulation. Such green infrastructure strategies could strengthen demand for real estate by clustering remaining homes and businesses in sustainable urban designs. Despite decline, many older industrial cities and their metropolitan regions have important economic assets—top-ranked science and engineering universities , sk illed manufacturing workforces, and high-tech research and Sustainability Planning for Older Industrial Cities 245 development capacity—that could generate green jobs a nd sustainable industries . The planning challenge is devising a su stainability framework that addresses the socioeconomic, environmental, and physical conditions of older industrial, shrinking cities. Such a task will require a new breed of sustainability plan that reflects the different degrees of neighborhood change—those places with substantial levels of blight and abandonment and those transitional neighborhoods with promising assets. Planners in such distressed cities have few models to follow—they cannot simply transplant the sustainability plan of Portland or even Chicago or Minneapolis . Sustainability plans in growing cities often focus on mitigating the environmental impacts of development while preparing to r educe carbon emissions through green buildings and transit-oriented development strategies . Shrinking older industrial cities, on the other hand, confront problems such as fiscal i nstability, government i ncapacity, neighborhood deterioration , poverty, and persistent and severe economic decline, thus making the design and implementation of sustainability policies and programs difficult. This chapter makes the case for why older industrial cities should incorporate elements of sustainability into plans. We assess whether such plans adequately address the conditions of shrinking cities by evaluating the content from four shrinking city sustainability plans (Buffalo, Cleveland, Philadelphia , and Baltimore). We then offer several ideas for strengthening current planning frameworks, such as adapting regeneration principles and policies from the United Kingdom, so sustainability plans will better integrate socioeconomic and environmental policies. Defining Sustainability and the Parameters of Sustainable Cities The United Nations 1987 Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to m eet their own needs. Sustainability is based on natural science principles such as ecological carrying capacity, natural capital, and harmony of natural systems. Th e foundation of sustainability rests on three principles: (1) environmental considerations must be entrenched in economic policy and development decision making; (2) economic and development considerations must focus on more than 246 Joseph Schilling and Raksha Vasudevan growth while improving the quality of life for residents; and (3) equity demands fair distribution and access to economic and environmental benefits that emerge from development and growth. Sustainability’s broad definition leaves much room for debate and interpretation . As a result, planners face a challenge in reconciling sustainability with other planning and policy approaches, such as smart growth, new urbanism, and livability. The concepts of sustainable communities or cities can ground sustainability’s broad framework in local practices that address the negative consequences of traditional economic development decisions and sprawl development patterns. The ability of a city to become sustainable , however, depends on the nature and effectiveness of its local government regime. Sustainable cities become t he most relevant planning a nd policy...