Growing Greener Cities

This thoroughly illustrated collection of essays, written by scholars as well as practitioners of urban policy, gives a panoramic view of sustainability and environmental issues for green-minded city planners, policy makers, researchers, and citizens.

Nineteenth-century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted described his most famous project, the design of New York's Central Park, as "a democratic development of highest significance." Over the years, the significance of green in civic life has grown. In twenty-first-century America, not only open space but also other issues of sustainability—such as potable water and carbon footprints—have become crucial elements in the quality of life in the city and surrounding environment. Confronted by a U.S. population that is more than 70 percent urban, growing concern about global warming, rising energy prices, and unabated globalization, today's decision makers must find ways to bring urban life into balance with the Earth in order to sustain the natural, economic, and political environment of the modern city.

In Growing Greener Cities, a collection of essays on urban sustainability and environmental issues edited by Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter, scholars and practitioners alike promote activities that recognize and conserve nature's ability to sustain urban life. These essays demonstrate how partnerships across professional organizations, businesses, advocacy groups, governments, and individuals themselves can bring green solutions to cities from London to Seattle. Beyond park and recreational spaces, initiatives that fall under the green umbrella range from public transit and infrastructure improvement to aquifer protection and urban agriculture.

Growing Greener Cities offers an overview of the urban green movement, case studies in effective policy implementation, and tools for measuring and managing success. Thoroughly illustrated with color graphs, maps, and photographs, Growing Greener Cities provides a panoramic view of urban sustainability and environmental issues for green-minded city planners, policy makers, and citizens.

Preface: Common Ground, Common Good
—Amy Gutmann

Introduction Urban Greening and the Green City Ideal
—Eugenie L. Birch, Susan M. Wachter

PT. I GREENING AT EVERY SCALE: NATION TO ROOF TOPS
1. Taking the Initiative: Why Cities Are Greening Now
—Tom Daniels
2. Growing Greener Regions
—Robert D. Yaro, David M. Kooris
3. The Inter-Regional Dimension: The Greening of London and the Wider South East
—Robin Thompson
4. Greening Cities: A Public Realm Approach
—Alexander Garvin
5. Growing Greener, New York Style
—Rachel Weinberger
6. Greener Homes, Greener Cities: Expanding Affordable Housing and Strengthening Cities Through Sustainable Residential Development
—Stockton Williams, Dana L. Bourland

PT. II GETTING GREENING DONE
7. Urban Stream Restoration: Recovering Ecological Services in Degraded Watersheds
—Rutherford H. Platt, Timothy Beatley, Sarah Michaels, Nancy Goucher, Beth Fenstermacher
8. The Role of Citizen Activists in Urban Infrastructure Development
—Paul R. Brown
9. Blue-Green Practices: Why They Work and Why They Have Been So Difficult to Implement Through Public Policy
—Charlie Miller Miller
10. The Roots of the Urban Greening Movement Victor Rubin Rubin, Victor 187
11. Leveraging Media for Social Change Harry Wiland Wiland, Harry Dale Bell Bell, Dale 207
12. Transformation Through Greening J. Blaine Bonham, Jr. Bonham, J.Blaine, Jr. Patricia L. Smith Smith, Patricia L. 227
13. Community Development Finance and the Green City Jeremy Nowak Nowak, Jeremy 244
14. Growing Edible Cities Domenic Vitiello Vitiello, Domenic 259

PT. III MEASURING URBAN GREENING
15. Ecosystem Services and the Green City
—Dennis D. Hirsch
16. Metro Nature: Its Functions, Benefits, and Values
—Kathleen L. Wolf
17. Green Investment Strategies: How They Matter for Urban Neighborhoods
—Susan M. Wachter, Kevin C. Gillen, Carolyn R. Brown
18. Measuring the Economic Impacts of Greening: The Center for Neighborhood Technology Green Values Calculator
—Julia Kennedy, Julia Peter Haas, Peter Bill Eyring
19. What Makes Today's Green City?
—Warren Karlenzig

Afterword
—Neal Peirce Peirce

Notes
List of Contributors