Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development Review

Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development
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In this breakthrough book, Joan Fitzgerald lays out a visionary yet pragmatic agenda that melds three concerns that are too often approached in isolation: economic development, urban sustainability and social justice. As she notes at the start, what makes the achievement of this agenda so urgent is the ongoing prospect of devastating climate change coinciding with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Written in lucid, jargon-free prose, Emerald Cities charts the way forward.
Fitzgerald examines five areas--renewable energy, energy efficiency, green building, waste management and transportation--and identifies three kinds of strategies cities can pursue within those areas: linking strategies that connect sustainability or climate change initiatives to economic development goals, such as Los Angeles' tying efficiency retrofitting to work-needy residents and Chicago's Waste to Profit Network; transformational strategies that enable existing businesses to expand into green markets or services, such as Portland's local street car industry and Toledo's move from glass to solar panel production; and--boldest of all--leapfrogging strategies that attempt to create an entirely new sector in a green technology, such as Cleveland's offshore wind production initiative.
Focusing on the United States, Fitzgerald bookends her inquiry with encouraging examples from Germany and Sweden. Her aim, however, is not to cheerlead but to find out what works. One of her study's distinctive strengths is its sobriety: she marks failures and frustrations as well as successes. Not all green jobs are good jobs. Not every city will be able to develop a renewable energy sector. Many of the efforts now underway are necessarily experimental. Cities and regions are trying to remake themselves and their economies along fundamentally new lines. Even if we applaud their intentions, we need to rigorously evaluate the outcomes.
But one of the key lessons of Emerald Cities is that good intentions are crucial. Our current predicament was not our foreordained destiny; it's the result of myopia and inattentiveness--much of it willful. That's actually good news, because it means we can do something about it. And as Fitzgerald repeatedly observes, "we" must include the federal government. No matter how well cities design and execute pathbreaking visions of green and equitable economic development, it's going to take national leadership and investment guided by a broad and coherent industrial policy to achieve a prosperous and just green economy. For all who seek that goal, Emerald Cities is a must-read.
Zelda Bronstein, Former Chair, Berkeley Planning Commission

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