CityStories / City Profiles
When voters passed the indoor smoking ban in November 2006, Ohio became the first Midwestern state and the first tobacco-growing state to outlaw smoking in public buildings,...
Much of Ann Arbor, Michigan's environmental progress owes its origins to the handiwork of grassroots organizations. In fact, Recycle Ann Arbor, a nonprofit organization that...
Because Antioch's tagline is the "Gateway to the Delta" of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers at the San Francisco Bay, water management is a top priority for the city.
The village of Arlington Heights is Chicago's largest suburb in Cook County—and one of its oldest—and its proximity to the city has presented both challenges and advantages to...
Arvada is constructing solar energy capacity at its water treatment plant in partnership with SunEdison, and will be the first city in Colorado to have a system of this size run...
Water conservation has been a major challenge for this northeast Georgia city, which relies almost entirely on surface water and has struggled with overdevelopment and an...
Aurora focuses on the well-being of youth with its Office of Youth Development and Youth Commission.
July 2010 Update: Austin has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.One major advantage in climate change protection that Austin, Texas, has over other cities...
July 2010 Update: Beaverton has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Beaverton, Oregon, lies just seven miles west of green leader Portland, and the TriMet...
Most of Washington's fuel for electricity comes from clean, renewable hydropower, the process of which emits almost no air-quality-damaging emissions after construction of the...
Situated on Bellingham Bay at the northern end of the Puget Sound, Bellingham is both a university town and an industrial center, home to an aging pulp mill owned until 2001 by...
July 2010 Update: Berkeley has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article. Berkeley, just across the Bay from San Francisco, has always been a city of green...
The twin cities of Bloomington and Normal rank among the top in the country for the least amount of ozone in the air, based on the American Lung Association’s 2008 State of the...
Boca Raton, which is known for having some of the most expensive gated communities in the country, is making strides toward developing more affordable housing opportunities.
In 2008, Boise created the Excellence in Green Building Construction awards to encourage environmentally sound construction as a part of the mayor's charge to make Boise the...
February 2011 Update: Boston has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Boston is also a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Among large cities, Boston stands out as...
February 2011 Update: Boulder has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. The City of Boulder has also been a pioneer in green building since 1980 when...
February 2011 Update: Bremerton has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Bremerton is the largest city in Kitsap County, Washington. It lies just a 55...
Southern California has been suffering from the eight-year-long drought on the Colorado River, little local rainfall, and a judicial order to reduce pumping from the Sacramento-...
The Minnesota Valley Wildlife Refuge borders the city of Burnsville, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Because of the nearby natural resources—including the Minnesota...
Because buildings account for nearly half of the greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., Cambridge has instituted a Green Building Policy, which includes maintaining a Green...
Cape Coral, like much of the country, is suffering from high rates of foreclosure. But the city has worked to make it an attractive place for relocation and for businesses with...
The City of Carlsbad has a five-member commission, appointed by the mayor, for the interests of seniors in the community.
February 2011 Update: Champaign has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Like other cities in Illinois, Champaign–Urbana is subject to the Smoke-Free...
Charleston, South Carolina, has a rich cultural past, and its historic architecture is one of its chief prides. Highly protected, these buildings form the backbone of Charleston...
Charlotte is known for its smart city planning and development, which plays a major role in its Environment Focus Area Plan, updated twice a year.
Chesapeake adapted eight and a half miles of the former Virginia Route 17 into a multi-use trail for walkers, bicyclists, horseback riders, naturalists and wildlife enthusiasts.
February 2011 Update: Chicago has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Chicago is also a 2010 Smarter City for Energy.Home to the world's first...
Rising beside Lake Eyrie, Cleveland grew as a manufacturing center based on Great Lakes shipping traffic. Having weathered the decline of its manufacturing industry, the city is...
In early 2008, Government Fleet magazine named Colorado Springs the country's top municipal user of biodiesel for its fleet.
July 2010 Update: Columbus has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Taking advantage of its flat terrain, Columbus aims to be the bicycling capital of the...
July 2010 Update: Dallas has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Improving air quality is at the forefront of Dallas's environmental policy. Currently, 70...
February 2011 Update: Davis, Yolo County, has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Davis is the largest city in Yolo County, California. Davis is home...
July 2010 Update: Denton has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.As a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth greater metropolitan region, Denton, Texas, is one of...
Coloradans understand the value of water in their semi-arid state and there is nothing casual about their referring to it as "liquid gold." Seasonal snowmelt from the Rocky...
July 2010 Update: Dubuque has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.One of the first settlements west of the Mississippi, Dubuque has the oldest historic...
The independent nonprofit Hartley Nature Center at Hartley Park teaches Duluth youth about nature in an eco-friendly building, which has a geothermal heat pump and solar panels...
In April 2009, the township of Edison established the Clara Barton–Amboy Avenue Neighborhood Home Loan Program to revitalize this particular historic neighborhood while...
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System provides trolley service on two lines to El Cajon, connecting it to nearby downtown San Diego, as well as to other cities and...
El Monte's electricity is provided by Southern California Edison, which obtains 16 percent of its energy from renewable sources and is the country's largest purchaser of...
July 2010 Update: El Paso, Texas has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article. In March 2007, El Paso's City Council adopted an Open Space Master Plan with the...
East of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state, the city of Ellensburg is the sunlit home of a America's first community solar project and provides easy access to hiking,...
Green space makes up 16 percent of Eugene, including more than 3,000 acres of natural areas—and it is continuing to grow with the acquisition of 260 more acres of natural land...
For cities in the overcast, mountainous Pacific Northwest, hydropower provides the most feasible form of renewable energy and Everett is no exception. The Snohomish County...
The Fall River Energy Enterprise (FREE) was started by the city’s mayor in effort to green the city, redevelop the downtown area, make it a renewable-energy leader in the region...
As one of the fastest growing metropolitan statistical areas in the country, Fayetteville, Arkansas has sought to find a way to make that growth green. Set in the moderate...
In June 2008, the City of Flagstaff adopted a resolution mandating that all new municipal buildings be LEED-silver certified and should seek platinum certification wherever...
July 2010 Update: Fort Collins has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Although universities are vital to their locales, the distance between town and...
Fremont is ethnically and racially diverse, with around 46 percent of its population from Asian descent and more than 15 percent of Hispanic origin.
The Metropolitan Water District provides water to city residents and businesses. In 2009, it will begin providing California-friendly landscaping training for residents free of...
Gastonia's Wastewater Treatment Division was the first government entity to win the North Carolina Environmental Stewardship Award in 2005, an award from the state's voluntary...
The Cascade Engineering company's headquarters, known as the "Learning Community," was the first office building in Michigan to achieve LEED-platinum certification.
Hayward's Area Park and Recreation District, or H.A.R.D., is the biggest of its kind in California, maintaining more than 100 facilities and parks.
Hemet is a part of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides a "Be Water Wise" site with tips on conserving water and information on rebates, and a...
Energy in Henderson is provided by NV Energy, which has a long-term contract to obtain solar power from Nevada Solar One, the largest solar plant built anywhere in the world in...
The Village of Hoffman Estates has a volunteer Environmental Commission that liases with state and county attorney generals' offices on environmental education and laws.
February 2011 Update: Honolulu has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Being thousands of ocean miles away from any other major city gives Honolulu...
According to the Trust for Public Land, of the ten most populous cities in the U.S., none has more green space than Houston, with 56,405 acres.
July 2010 Update: Huntington Beach has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Two things are of paramount importance to the typical Huntington Beach...
Huntsville, Alabama, may be best known for its aerospace, military and technology industries; it is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the Army's Redstone Arsenal base...
Irondequoit was one of the first cities in the country to sign the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to advance the goals of the Kyoto Protocol.
Irvine is a new planned city—formally incorporated in 1971—that has been almost entirely developed by the Irvine Company, which owns one-fifth of Orange County known as the...
Jacksonville has an Environmental Quality Division completely devoted to air and water quality protection.
February 2011 Update: Jersy City has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Jersey City, the second largest city in New Jersey, sits on the Hackensack...
Kansas City is serious about maintaining its good water quality, and it does so efficiently. The Water Services Department purchases 10 million pounds of carbon dioxide waste...
The Kane Street Community Garden is on land owned by the City of La Crosse and is managed by the Hunger Task Force.
Like most of Southern California, La Habra faces a growing demand for water and a shrinking supply.
La Mesa is well served by San Diego's regional Metropolitan Transit System, which covers 3,240 square miles of service area and has 290,000 riders each weekday.
Laredo shares a metropolitan area with its neighbor across the Rio Grande, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and is dubbed the "Gateway to Mexico." With railroad expansion in the 1880s and...
To keep Nevada's clean air clean, Las Vegas has an urban forestry initiative, continues to develop trails for non-motorized transportation, has an alternative fuels program that...
February 2011 Update: Lincoln has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Nebraska’s capital city is home to 90 percent of the population of the Lincoln...
July 2010 Update: Long Beach has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Long Beach Transit is the first transit agency in the world to use electric-gasoline...
With close to four million residents, Los Angeles is the major player in Southern California, the world's 14th largest economy. Its municipally owned utility, the Los Angeles...
Louisville's Partnership for a Green City is a collaborative effort between the Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government, the University of Louisville and the Jefferson...
The Massachusetts Smoke-Free Workplace Law prohibits smoking in workplaces, including restaurants, bars, taxis and private offices.
The capital of Wisconsin, Madison fans out from the isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, providing the city with a natural landscape its citizens enjoy year-round and...
Each of the Hawaiian islands is on its own energy grid, isolated thousands of miles from the mainland. Transporting fuel for energy is expensive, and the state of Hawaii gives...
Merced contracted ECO:LOGIC Engineering for facility design and permitting of its upgraded wastewater treatment plant, which includes a new filtration technology and expanded...
The City of Mesa's utility customers can donate a dollar or more with their monthly bill payments to a program called "ABC: A Better Community."
Redeveloping brownfields (former industrial or commercial sites with possible environmental issues), rather than building on greenfields (unused rural or suburban land),...
In Minneapolis, all city departments are required to incorporate sustainability guidelines into their business plans through the Environmental Coordinating Team, which was...
Halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego in Orange County, Mission Viejo, like its green neighbor Irvine, is a young, master-planned community, which was only incorporated in...
Located in Silicon Valley just outside the San Francisco Bay Area, Mountain View is home to many high-tech companies—including Google and Intuit—whose local contributions have...
Naperville has a strong public school system, with both high schools in District 203 ranking in the U.S. News and World Report’s top 2 to 3 percent of the country’s schools.
Founded as an industrial mill town, Nashua is refashioning its older structures into new ones that embrace the culture and history of the locale. Its brownfield remediation...
February 2011 Update: New Haven has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. New Haven revolves around green space. When the city was developed in the...
February 2011 Update: New York has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. New York is also a 2010 Smarter City for Energy.New York is a city of...
Newton’s Health and Human Services Department includes commissions that focus on human rights, youth, seniors and those with disabilities.
Forty miles northeast of the City of New York, Norwalk, Connecticut, is located on the Long Island Sound in an area with a long history of oystering. It is a city highly...
July 2010 Update: Oakland has been designated a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Long plagued by high levels of unemployment and poverty, Oakland is now working to...
In order to preserve potable water for drinking, the City of Ontario is actively pushing higher use of recycled water.
Palmdale's electricity is provided by Southern California Edison, which obtains 16 percent of its energy from renewable sources and is the country's largest purchaser of green...
In 1984, the City of Petaluma created the mission-driven Housing Program with a goal of making 10 to 15 percent of housing affordable; it has since exceeded this goal by...
February 2011 Update: Philadelphia has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. The City of Philadelphia's partnership with PhillyCarShare has resulted...
The City of Phoenix has more than 70 sustainability initiatives and has had a citizen-based Environmental Quality Commission since 1987 that has helped to guide the city's...
February 2011 Update: Portland has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Portland is also a 2010 Smarter City for Energy.Portland's status as one...
A suburb of green-frontrunner Seattle and situated between the Cascade Mountain Range and Puget Sound, Redmond is known as the Bicycle Capital of the Northwest and has 34 parks...
Since 1977, Redwood City has had a Housing and Human Concerns Committee that is responsible for ensuring that the quality of life for all residents has been considered in the...
July 2010 Update: Reno, Nevada has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Each year, the City of Reno hosts a Green Summit inviting all residents to...
In March 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded Riverside City and County with $7.1 million for local housing and service programs—a dramatic...
Energy East Corporation's upstate New York subsidiaries, Rochester Gas & Electric and New York State Gas & Electric, are together ranked tenth in the country on the U.S...
Roseville public schools benefit from the partnerships with large companies with a presence in the city, including Hewlett-Packard, SureWest, IBM, Xerox Corporation and Apple...
As the capital of California, a state with demanding environmental requirements, Sacramento works to lead by example in the state's push to lower energy emissions, conserve...
The City of Salem seeks to triple the share of bicycle trips among all transportation modes by 2015, thereby decreasing emissions from vehicles and enhancing air quality.
San Diego has gained a reputation as one of California's most sprawling cities but it's a reputation the city government is working to shed. By using "smart growth" principles—...
July 2010 Update: San Francisco has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.San Francisco has long been an incubator for progressive movements, and its...
San José's Clean Tech strategy aims to get progressive businesses to move to the city, which Mayor Chuck Reed calls "fertile ground for new technologies." With an established...
In 2008, the city launched a climate protection campaign called SMART, or San Mateo Acting Responsibly Together, to educate city employees and the community about the importance...
Pacific Gas & Electric supplies 40 percent of California with energy, including San Ramon.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority runs 450 buses on 75 routes and 100 light rail vehicles on more than 42.2 miles of rail from Santa Clara, at the southern tip of...
July 2010 Update: Santa Clarita has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.The city diverts 54 percent of its waste from the landfill, and even offers...
July 2010 Update: Santa Cruz has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Although much of California is known for smog, Santa Cruz County has consistently...
Santa Monica's Green Building Ordinance went into effect in May 2008 and will apply to all new construction, including single-family homes.
Santa Rosa, a gateway to California's wine country north of San Francisco, has adopted innovative energy practices—using unique sources such as algae and geysers—that have...
A vacation town on the Gulf of Mexico, Sarasota has a transient population that can be challenging to rally for the city's green plans. But the city has involved the public...
The rise of air-conditioning in the 1950s opened up swathes of the Southwest to development at an unheard of scale in extremely fragile desert ecosystems. One such community,...
July 2010 Update: Seattle has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Although Seattle has a long history of environmental action, global warming has spurred...
Just west of the Idaho Rockies, Spokane straddles the Spokane River in the plains of Eastern Washington. A signatory to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection...
July 2010 Update: Springfield has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Like many Midwestern towns, Springfield, Illinois, is faced with aging power plants,...
The City of St. Paul recently reclaimed and restored a 27-acre post-industrial site along the Mississippi River and transformed it into the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary.
In Stamford, the Mayor’s Youth Services Bureau has programs that teach life skills and leadership skills and build self-confidence in the city’s youth.
The city maintains an updated directory of recycling centers for hard-to-recycle items throughout the city and area, for everything ranging from diapers to mattresses to carpets...
Sunnyvale Works! is a unique initiative of the local government in Sunnyvale, California, that will fund more than $60 million in capital improvements in the city—augmented by...
Most of Washington's fuel for electricity comes from clean, renewable hydropower, the process of which emits almost no air-quality-damaging emissions after construction of the...
Tallahassee is going a long way to make its bus system, StarMetro, a popular means of transportation to get cars off the road. Florida State University and Florida A&M...
Tampa was the second city in Florida to be designated with the Gold-Level Certified Green Local Government status by the Florida Green Building Coalition.
Tempe's Transportation Department supports sustainability by promoting walking, biking and alternative modes of transit, and by building a Transportation Center, which opened at...
The City of Thousand Oaks maintains a Disabled Access Appeals and Advisory Board to represent the needs of physically challenged residents of the community.
The Turlock Irrigation District is one of only four publicly owned irrigation districts in the state of California that also provides electricity to residents.
Union City's Tri-CED community recycling is the largest nonprofit recycler in California that is dedicated to employing needy adults and providing training for disadvantaged...
Union Township is a small city situated in the Highlands Preservation Area of New Jersey, with firm restrictions on future development.
February 2011 Update: Urbana has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Urbana shares a border with the neighboring city of Champaign. Urbana is home to...
The Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services works to rehabilitate deteriorating neighborhoods in Vallejo while simultaneously creating affordable housing.
The State of California recognized Ventura for reducing the amount of waste the city sent to the landfill by 70 percent.
Since the 1970s, the Warwick Wildlife and Conservation Commission has existed to protect the city's natural resources and work with the planning commission to create development...
February 2011 Update: Washington D.C. has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Based on the number of walkable urban places per capita, The Brookings...
The township of Wayne has a rehabilitation program to repair homes in substandard condition for those with low incomes.
Westminster, a northwest suburb of Denver, lies in close proximity to mountains and trails. In 1985, voters approved a sales tax earmarked specifically for purchasing and...
Wheaton's park district maintains 829 acres of parks, pools and green space for recreation, and an online map shows bicycle paths connecting them.
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