Sustainability is more all-encompassing than any single definition or catch phrase. To City Planning Director Alan Greenberger, sustainability is as close as the buildings where we live and work.
"The rowhouse is almost the perfect sustainability model," Greenberger said. "You have two warm walls. But, the houses are old, so weatherizing them is key."
The other end of that spectrum is a commitment to environmentally sensible new construction, from studio apartments to the Comcast Center, but also construction of new roads and bridges that factors in storm-water management and open space. It's about meeting the needs of the present without messing up the future.
"Sewers are probably one of the more important and least sexy things out there," Greenberger said. "Cities are by their very definition pretty impervious, so water is diverted into sewers." When a city does that well, it sustains a big resource while sustaining health. And that sustains energy. Which sustains financial resources. And on and on.
Underground cisterns, like the system at the new Salvation Army building in Hunting Park, collect rainwater for use in irrigating the site. Such effective water management is a huge help.
How Philadelphia
stacks up:
Philly places in the top 10 (of the nation's 50 largest cities) in four sustainability categories, according to SustainLane's 2008 rankings: city commuting, metro transit ridership, locally produced food and natural disaster risk (not including Eagles draft day). We're in the top 20 for six other categories, including tap-water quality, a "green economy" and housing affordability.
