i Urban Sustainability Programs: Case Studies David J. Hess, editor Suggested Citation: Hess, David J., ed. 2013. Urban Sustainability Programs: Case Studies. Sociology Department, Vanderbilt University. www.davidjhess.net. Copyright © 2013 All rights reserved These case studies are from undergraduate research projects. They are collected here with the students’ permission for use in educational settings. This course focused on sustainability policies; other courses in the Environmental and Sustainability Studies Program focus on climate change, environmental justice, and other issues. ii Table of Contents 1 Amsterdam: The Cycling City, by Lauren Bolhack, Alycia Bouchard, Hannah Duckworth, Morgan Goddard, and Sarah Sams 7 Barcelona’s Sustainability Plan and Solar Programs, by Timour Kamran 13 Berkeley, California: Sustainability and Transportation in America’s Greenest College Town, by Ryan Zauk 19 Environmental Policy and Energy Initiatives in Berlin, by Stephen Kornblum 25 Bogotá’s TransMilenio System, by Spencer Ciesla, Charlie Ewing, Zack Jaworski, Chong Lim, and Breana Moore 30 Sustainability and Green Space in Chicago, by Emily Heald 35 Greening the Built Environment in Dallas, by Sahil Batra, Robert Cross, Nathanael Gabler, Amber Gerdes, Sydney Pedigo, Yi Zeng 43 Transportation Practices in Denver’s Sustainability Initiatives, by Partha Reddy 47 Green Businesses in Ithaca, Beau Baldwin, Jamie Braunstein, Alma Farooque, Daniel Rubin, Henry Strohm 54 Sustainable Transportation in London, by Brooke Bartley, Becca Cunningham, Brandon Fross, Alex Perraud, and Christie Zettler 63 Madrid: Sustainability and Green Space Initiatives, by By Tabitha Hill, Autumn Henderson, Tricia Lebkuecher, Madeleine Moorhead, and Grant Weekley 70 Melbourne: A Global Leader in Green Buildings, by Jacyln Smith 77 Montreal’s Green Buildings, by Alex Hagar, Kya Jones, Almaz Mesghina, Lucas Polson, Shailoah Wilson, and Pamela Wu 86 The Greener, Greater Buildings of New York City, by Autumn Henderson 92 Oakland’s Green Jobs, by Jake Brenner 97 The 20/20 Sustainability Movement in Ottawa: Focus on Quickway Bus Rapid Transit, by Greg Hawley 105 Sustainability and Transit in Paris, by Caroline Saunders, Morgan Huston, Chelseay Parks, and Carson Hedberg 116 Citizen Participation as the Driving Force behind the Portland Plan, by John Iaia 124 Green Business as the Leading Green Initiative in San Diego, by Katie Lopez, Bess McWherter, Marlotte De Jong, Sean Sheng, and Janetra Gleaves 132 San Francisco: Sustainability and a New Energy Horizon in a Model City, by Michael Diamond 140 Recycling and Reuse in Santa Barbara, by John Gibson, Olivia Knoll, Rachel Levy, Jasmine Reid 148 Analysis of Green Practices and Community Gardening in Seattle, by McLain Wilkinson 155 Making Transportation Greener and More Accessible in Seoul, by Min Cho, Alex Dai, Katherine Dodge, Laura Quast, and Frank Tota 165 Shenzhen: From a Fishing Village to a Greening Metropolis, by Sicheng Ma 170 Transportation and Sustainability in Singapore, by Lizie Bogan II, Leah Chisholm, Bea Cochran, Hillary Good, and Jeremy Price 178 Green Spaces in Sydney, by Sandro Giacometti, Mihir Parthasarathy, Marlee Peck, Cristina Petrovich, Tyler Rigsby, and Dansby Swanson 186 Vancouver’s Built Environment Initiatives, by Jordan Clark 193 Washington, D.C.: Streetcar Initiatives amid Small Steps toward Sustainability, by Bradley Roche iii This page is intentionally blank 1 Amsterdam: The Cycling City By Lauren Bolhack, Alycia Bouchard, Hannah Duckworth, Morgan Goddard, and Sarah Sams Suggested Citation: Bolhack, Lauren, Alycia Bouchard, Hannah Duckworth, Morgan Goddard, and Sarah Sams. 2013. In David J. Hess (ed.), Urban Sustainability Programs: Case Studies. www.davidjhess.net. Copyright © 2013 by Lauren Bolhack, Alycia Bouchard, Hannah Duckworth, Morgan Goddard, and Sarah Sams The city of Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands and has a population of over 820,000 people, making it the most populous city in the Netherlands. Industry in Amsterdam is mostly dominated by retail in the form of small shops and businesses, the booming red light district, and the tourism industry that affects many neighborhoods (iAmsterdam 2013a). The Amstel River divides the city and flows into its many canals, which are signature landmarks of the city. Current environmental issues include water pollution in the canals, acid rain, the transition to renewable energy sources for power generation, using more local and organic foods, and the greening of businesses and homes since Amsterdam is an old city (WWF 2012). Many cities have formal sustainability plans laying out regulations and guidelines to put the city on a path to sustainability. Amsterdam has no formal plan; however, there are still many initiatives to make the city more sustainable across a range of sectors. Among the many initiatives, Amsterdam’s use of bikes for transportation and creation of incredibly bike-friendly infrastructure is arguably the most outstanding. This paper will analyze Amsterdam's various initiatives and plans for sustainability in more detail. First, we will review initiatives across a wide range of areas. Next, we will review the city's impressive efforts in greening transportation through the bicycle system. The conclusion will summarize and evaluate Amsterdam’s effectiveness and discuss its potential portability of their programs to other cities. Sustainability Practices Amsterdam is an international leader in sustainability and climate mitigation. The city does not exactly have a mitigation plan, but through networks of eco-friendly people, businesses, and public sectors it has a coordinated network of sustainability initiatives. Some of the strongest practices are in transportation, whereas green spaces are not as strongly emphasized. What Amsterdam lacks in some areas it makes up for in others, all the while continuing to develop as a green city focused on mitigating the effects of greenhouse gases. With respect to green buildings, the Dutch Green Building Council developed a sustainability label called BREEAM-NL based on the English BREEAM methodology and similar to the LEED system in the U.S. (DGBC 2013). BREEAM-NL has nine categories of evaluation: management, health and wellbeing, energy, transport, water, materials, waste, land use and ecology, and pollution (DGBC 2013). Amsterdam has some models of sustainability in the building sector such as the Sportplaza and the Amsterdam Public Library (OBA). The latter is “constructed primarily using renewable materials” and has solar panels on the roof (iAmsterdam 2013b). For saving energy in existing buildings, the city council is going to launch a program that insulates the existing housing stock more efficiently and develops instruments to help homeowners’ associations implement energy-saving measures. For new buildings, starting in 2015 all building projects in Amsterdam will be climate neutral, meaning “all energy such as 2 heating, cooling, water, and electricity should come from sources near the building without the use of fossil fuels” (iAmsterdam 2013b). The city’s business sector also has developed initiatives related to sustainability. Throughout the city, a major focus for businesses is the triple-bottom line of economic, environmental, and social accounting. The city is addressing major business sectors such as the tourist industry. For example, Amsterdam has created a green hotel program in which hotels are labeled by a Green Key logo to indicate that they meet the “highest standards for sustainability” (iAmsterdam 2013c). As of 2013, forty- five percent of beds in Amsterdam have the label (Amsterdam 2013b). In addition, the city promotes sustainability through the Green Business Club, which is a local initiative that provides opportunities for learning and collaborating about sustainability for Amsterdam’s businesses. The club acts as a support for other facets of a sustainable society through the greening of buildings, the use of renewable energy sources, and the recycling and reuse of waste materials. Green spaces not only provide environmental benefits to the city, but they also are great ways to engage the community. However, Amsterdam has few initiatives in this area in comparison with some other cities. This failure is likely due to a lack of necessity for the expansion of such spaces, because the city currently has over thirty green spaces (Amsterdam.info 2013b). Instead of making space for more green spaces, Amsterdam is focusing on protecting the existing green spaces from destruction as the city experiences an increase in urban development. Most of these spaces contain playgrounds and/or athletic facilities, which promote community involvement and interaction. One park in particular that succeeds in community engagement is Vondelpark, the largest park in Amsterdam and the host to an estimated ten million visitors each year (Amsterdam.info 2013b). With respect to the transition to green energy, the city plans to cut forty percent of its carbon- dioxide emissions (from burning coal) by 2025 by pursuing three tracks simultaneously to establish a sustainable energy supply (Amsterdam City Council 2012). These three tracks will be energy savings in existing buildings, climate-neutral new-build, and sustainable electricity and sustainable heating and cooling (by means of thermal storage). The two initiatives for buildings are discussed above. For sustainable electricity, the state is working with the Sustainable Energy Production Stimulation Scheme, which will