Summit No. 3: Sustainable Communities
Parking Lot Questions for Future Work
- What changes must take place for local officials to make wider use of life-cycle analysis and full-cost accounting, including accounting for ecosystem services?
- How can policymakers and planners better engage and incentivize the private sector to develop business models that support urban ecosystems?
- How should the local and regional costs of addressing long-term sustainability (including reducing carbon emissions and adapting to global warming) be equitably allocated? Who should/shouldn’t pay?
- How can urban design, planning and management better advance development practices that integrate energy and environmental systems?
- What steps are needed to ensure that planners and developers assess the effects of location on energy consumption, environmental assets, renewable energy technology potentials, and vehicle miles traveled?
- How can cities create new opportunities for cost-effective advanced energy technologies through the co-location of compatible uses, higher density and technology-ready infrastructure?
- What improvements are needed to existing urban design and planning tools?
- What are the differences in challenges, opportunities and responsibilities for cities, metropolitan areas, suburbs, rural areas and regions?
- Given that many actions and strategies require different community and government resources and governance capacity, and that different size cities traditionally have authority over different types of activity, what is appropriate climate action for small, medium and large communities?
- To what extent should local leaders mandate sustainable and climate-friendly behaviors – for example, through building codes and ordinances?
- How can “whole neighborhood design” maximize energy performance and minimize environmental impacts?
- How do we shift from an urban development paradigm that emphasizes centralized energy systems and maximum energy supplies, to a paradigm that permits decentralized generation and maximizes energy efficiency?
- How can public/private partnerships be used more successfully to harmonize local, regional, state, national and international policies and programs?
- How do we translate the abstract and distant dynamics of global warming into a relevant and immediate issue that American citizens will care about and be empowered to act upon?
- Given the priority concerns for family, work and social life, what is necessary to meaningfully engage citizens in enlightened lifestyle practices that reflect a concern for mitigating global warming?
- In rank order of priority, what are the specific consumer choices that would make the greatest contribution, in the aggregate, to reducing greenhouse gas emissions? What entrenched social, market and institutional barriers currently prevent the widespread adoption of these enlightened choices and what will be necessary to move beyond them?
- Studies show that most Americans consider it more important to fit into their group than to be correct. How do we make “green” the cool thing as well as the right thing to do?
- Who are the right representatives to lead a social movement for green development?
- How do we shift the basis of the US economy from a culture of consumption to one of responsible resource management?
- How do we communicate the value of responsible resource management to the public so that it results in complementary consumer choice?
- What are the alternatives to tax incentives for homebuyers? Mortgage options? Cash back? College tuition?
- What improvements need to be made to LEED and other existing tools for communities?