When measuring a cities “greenness“ it’s important to know how it ranks compared with other cities. Research shows that the city is making strides on its way towards becoming a truly sustainable city. Now, depending where you look, Philadelphia may be seen as very green to only moderately green. According to SustainLane, a “people-powered sustainability guide,” Philadelphia’s Urban Sustainability ranks 8th out of the 50 most populated cities in America. Each year since 2004 they have compiled a list of the most populous cities and how they fare when judged on 16 different categories. The categories included; Air Quality, City Commuting, City Innovation, Energy and Climate Change, Green Building, Green Economy, Housing Affordability, Knowledge and Communications, Local Food and Agriculture, Metro Street Congestion, Metro Transit Ridership, Natural Disaster Risk, Planning and Land Use, Tap Water Quality, Waste Management, and finally, Water Supply.
Relative to the other cities in the survey Philadelphia scored highest in Food and Agriculture, City Commuting, Metro Transit Ridership, and Natural Disaster Risk. For those first three categories, Philadelphia is considered a sustainability leader. It’s lowest scoring categories were Air Quality and Green Building. Of the ranking, Mayor Michael Nutter said, ” “Philadelphia is happy to be in good company among the top ten cities, but our goal for the next ranking is to break into the top five and ultimately become number one….It’s important for Philadelphia’s citizens, corporations and government to partner together to meet our sustainability goal of becoming the greenest city in America.” Portland leads the way in urban sustainability. Portland’s Mayor Tom Potter says “Portland’s support of local farmers and farmers’ markets; its explosion of green buildings and commitment to renewable energy, and its emphasis on mass transportation, including light rail and bicycles, shows that a city can not only be kind to the earth, but also flourish economically and grow by being green.”
Philadelphia is sitting pretty in the top 10 of SustainLane’s survey, but when Popular Science published their list of the 50 greenest cities in America Philadelphia was no where to be found! How did this happen? Well, SustainLane used 16 different categories to judge a city. Popular Science used 4 broad categories made up of data from the U.S Census Bureau as well as the National Geographic Society’s Green Guide. The categories used were: Electricity, Transportation, Green Living, and Recycling and Green Perspective. Again, Portland, Oregon took first place. The use of renewable energy for half the city’s power, and a quarter of their workforce using public transportation, carpools, or bikes are only a few of the reasons why this city is the greenest in America. One of the reasons the results may be different is that Popular Science was judging cities of more than 100,000 people and SustainLane was ranking the 50 largest cities.
Popular Science’s Top 10
1. Portland, Oregon
2. San Francisco, California
3. Boston, Massacusetts
4. Oakland, California
5. Eugene, Oregon
6. Cambridge, Massachusetts
7. Berkeley, California
8. Seattle, Washington
9. Chicago, Illinois
10. Austin, Texas
Sustain Lane’s Top 10
1. Portland, Oregon
2. San Francisco, California
3. Seattle, Washington
4. Chicago, Illinois
5. New York, New York
6. Boston, Massachusetts
7. Minneapolis, Minnesota
8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
9. Oakland, California
10. Baltimore, Maryland
