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Integrated Solutions for Sustainable Communities.
Citation:
Gleason, T., R. Boumans, S. Balogh, A. Argoti, B. Demeke, D. Campbell, L. Erban, H. Walker, C. Tremper, AND H. Cabezas. Integrated Solutions for Sustainable Communities. Trans-Atlantic Research and Development Interchange on Sustainability, Estes Park, Colorado, September 09 - 11, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Cities must face and solve great challenges, if they are to meet the long-term goals of prosperity and sustainability. A multi-disciplinary team from US EPA Office of Research and Development evaluated a suite of metrics for assessing the sustainability of a complex urban system. Some of the metrics indicated improved performance and movement towards sustainability, while others indicated there were some potentially longer-term sustainability challenges. It was difficult to separate the trends in the Chicago area from some of the larger national and global forces. For example the Great Recession had a significant impact on all of the local metrics. Integrated synthesis of environmental, social, and economic drivers of urban conditions can provide insights to inform policy responses aimed at more holistically steering urban systems towards our chosen goals for the future, but they must be viewed within the context of broader national and global dynamics.
Description:
Cities must face and solve great challenges, if they are to meet the long-term goals of prosperity and sustainability that are increasingly being chosen by people today. Resource limitation of energy and materials, chronic pollution by chemical wastes, and the growing challenges to share wealth and opportunity fairly are all magnified in cities. The people and government of many cities are taking actions to address these concerns, such as making design changes to improve energy efficiency, increase the resiliency and reliability of the waste water sectors, and improve transportation systems to help meet broader sustainability goals. Progress toward meeting chosen goals may be quantified using metrics, which capture the performance of complex urban systems from a range of perspectives and with varying degrees of specificity. In the U.S., Heberling and Hopton (2010) demonstrated that simultaneous evaluation of a suite of diverse metrics has the potential to yield more nuanced and comprehensive information about how urban areas respond to internally driven policies and externally forced conditions. A multi-disciplinary group of scientists from US EPA Office of Research and Development have evaluated six integrated metrics of urban performance to understand recent change and current conditions in greater Chicago. The metrics provide insights into how and why diverse, dynamics processes are interrelated. Integrated synthesis of environmental, social, and economic drivers of urban conditions may be used to inform policy responses aimed at more holistically steering urban systems towards our chosen goals for the future. This presentation documents analysis of the Chicago metropolitan region using the following integrated metrics each providing a different perspective: Green Net Metropolitan Product, Human Well Being Index, Ecological Footprint, Net Energy, Fisher Information, and Emergy. Data were aggregated as they were available, over a multi-decadal period, from a wide range of open sources for Chicago and its surrounding counties, collectively referred to as the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the States of Illinois and Indiana that together constitute the larger system for the Chicago MSA. Trends observed for the Chicago MSA were placed in the context of larger national patterns by quantifying the biophysical and economic bases for growth at the larger regional, national and international scales. Calculation of these metrics involves accounting for natural, built, and human assets and liabilities, leading to a more complete balance sheet with which to evaluate tradeoffs and identify options that are cost effective, socially acceptable, and environmentally sound.