Building Green in Philadelphia, and Beyond

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council released a new report, Building Green: Overcoming Barriers in Philadelphia, that identifies obstacles to green building in Philadelphia and recommends solutions to dissolving those barriers.

In the 2006 SustainLane U.S. Cities Rankings, Philadelphia was ranked the eighth greenest city in the nation. However, it also brought to light how poorly Philadelphia stacks up in other rated areas; in two categories, Green Buildings and Recycling, Philadelphia ranked among the lowest in America. A series of focus group studies was conducted throughout 2007 in order to identify the barriers and formulate proposed solutions for improving green building in Philadelphia. The focus groups included individuals from the development and construction industry, local non-profits concerned with the built environment, and City government. The final result of the initiative is a report that identifies barriers to green building, including lack of political will in top levels of city government, lack of education about sustainable building, lack of good green building models, fiscal irresponsibility, political structure, and incongruent planning regulations. The report offers solutions and early action items to address each barrier. Although this report focuses on Philadelphia, similar recommendations could apply to many cities in the US. www.pecpa.org/files/downloads/2-27-08_BuildingGreen_FINAL.pdf 

For more information on site development planning for green building projects, contact F. X. Browne, Inc. at info@fxbrowne.com.