Center for Neighborhood Technology has been conducting research and developing and testing innovative programs to use urban resources more efficiently for almost 30 years. These efforts inevitably relate to the growing concerns about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slowing global warming.
CNT’s research has shown that cities can be the most efficient places to live, with their lower per capita greenhouse gas emissions due to efficient land use and transportation alternatives. Because urban areas are compact and have extensive mass transit and communication networks, they offer the greatest opportunities to help solve the climate crisis by expanding and enhancing their existing strategies for reducing carbon emissions.
Learn more about our research and steps you can take to help improve the environment by checking out our current projects at right.
Wednesday, June 26th, 2013 at 12:18 pm
A statement from Scott Bernstein, President of the Center for Neighborhood Technology
President Obama presented his Climate Action Plan yesterday, asking Americans to take seriously the threat of climate change and adopt behaviors and policies that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. CNT applauds the president’s leadership.
As the president knows, having served on our Board of Directors, CNT has helped cities and their residents make these kinds of sustainable choices for 35 years. We’ve also challenged and overturned the conventional wisdom that cities are the biggest carbon emission culprits. CNT’s research actually shows that cities can be the most efficient places to live, with their lower per capita greenhouse gas emissions due to efficient land use and transportation alternatives. For many reasons, cities offer the greatest opportunities to help solve the climate crisis.
From our perspective, many of the solutions lie in a system we call the resilient, efficiency-driven economy—a framework that leverages the inherent competitive advantages of cities and metropolitan regions, an economy that reduces household and business expenses at the same time that it reduces emissions.
A resilient, efficiency-driven economy re-imagines America’s cities in a way that capitalizes on four key characteristics:
- Resource efficiency – Using the least amount of energy and other resources to create a good and productive quality of life for all citizens
- Location efficiency – Smart development that concentrates housing, transit, jobs and amenities in a way that delivers fast, convenient, equitable and affordable connections
- Landscape efficiency – Adjustment to urban terrains and land-use patterns that can productively absorb rainfall, avoid flooding, and recharge the aquifer
- Distributed infrastructure – Decentralized and redundant systems, especially energy and transportation, that focus on local supply and demand
Urban economies are already more resource efficient and location efficient than the economy as a whole, but more can be done to make cities work better for all residents. Regional planning and design has focused too much on concrete, glass and steel, as opposed to community building, permeable surfaces and conscientious construction. Critical systems are highly centralized, making them inefficient and vulnerable to climate and other shocks. Still, opportunities abound.
In Chicago, CNT has turned the resilient, efficiency-driven economy approach into tangible programs that benefit residents:
- We retrofitted 12,643 multifamily units, saving owners nearly 30 percent on average on natural gas bills, and reducing CO2 emissions by 17,607 metric tons since 2008
- We pioneered car sharing in Chicago, creating a market for an affordable alternative to private car ownership where none existed, providing an economical option for residents and reducing emissions in the region
- We constructed a Green Infrastructure Portfolio Standard to guide planners and communities in the multiple benefits of green infrastructure investments to capture the value of stormwater, and reduce emissions
The president’s call to action is not a choice between environment and economy. It’s an investment in both. And, it shows that smart strategies, especially the prioritization of place-based initiatives, can empower Americans to reduce expenses and emissions. The result: a lean, clean, resilient, and resource-efficient economy that works for everyone.
Scott Bernstein is President of the Center for Neighborhood Technology. Scott served on the President’s Council for Sustainable Development in the Clinton Administration, and co-chaired its task forces on Metropolitan Sustainable Communities and on Cross-Cutting Climate Strategies. More recently, Scott helped create the Chicago Climate Action Plan at the request of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.
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Tuesday, March 19th, 2013 at 3:08 pm
CNT Climate Change Program Director, Jen McGraw, spent three days last week looking at the human dimensions of resilient and sustainable cities at the Garrison Institute’s Climate, Cities and Behavior Symposium.
The invite-only conference, held at a former monastery on the Hudson River in New York, dug into the concept of resilience as it relates to cities in an era of changing climate and superstorms. Through panels, case studies, and workshops, the group looked at ways that local governments and civic organizations can strengthen neighborhood assets and connectivity.
Eric Klinenberg described how during both the Chicago Heat Wave of 1995 and Hurricane Sandy, neighborhood institutions, even informal ones, were a critical factor in the varying responses neighborhood-to-neighborhood.
Mindy Fullilove and the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance’s Eddie Bautista discussed the importance of considering the full historical context in neighborhoods of inequality, poverty, and the legacy of urban redevelopment when partnering to address climate change.
Chicago’s own Jennifer Hirsch highlighted the Chicago Community Climate Action Toolkit, which engages neighbors in developing climate solutions that meet the goals of the Chicago Climate Action plan along with the specific needs of their communities.
The group grappled with the role of local government in catalyzing behavior change, as well as how to support and enable individual climate actions while also providing systematic infrastructure improvements to enable more sustainable cities. The discussion underlined the importance of CNT’s work in creating and implementing place-based solutions on critical climate mitigation and adaptation issues in cities, including energy upgrades, sustainable stormwater management, and access to transportation alternatives.
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Thursday, January 24th, 2013 at 2:04 pm
At CNT, we advocate for transit because it is an important strategy for reducing carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing our planet today, so it was good to hear President Obama reaffirm his commitment to take action on the issue in his recent inaugural address. The Presidential Climate Action Project, which CNT participated in creating, sets out specific, practical steps that the President and Congress can take to reduce America’s carbon emissions and set the country on the path towards a renewable energy future. The President is certainly familiar with the report (I personally put a copy of the freshly printed 2008 version of it in then candidate Obama’s hand) and has indicated his support in the past for many of the steps that it outlines.
Although climate change has become a sensitive issue politically, there are important steps that the President can take to advance the agenda without legislation. CNT encourages him to follow the recommendations contained in the PCAP and communicate directly with the American people about the importance of taking action on climate change and of the economic opportunities presented by making the transition towards a green, advanced energy economy.
The President should also engage with Congress to push for the passing of legislation capping carbon emissions or pricing carbon. These market based mechanisms, by promoting efficiency and encouraging the private sector to invest and innovate in new, green sources of energy, must be part of any comprehensive solution to the problem.
The decision surrounding the construction of the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline presents the President with an opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to tackling climate change. CNT urges him to kill the pipeline which does nothing but increase America’s dependency on polluting fossil fuels. Recent severe droughts and extreme weather conditions has reminded everyone of the urgency of the threat that we face. CNT encourages the President to follow through on the promises he has made as soon as possible.
Read the 2012 PCAP Action Plan here>>
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