The second half of our look at avant-garde, green-centric destinations around the world endures with the top ten.
10. Austin, U.S.A.
The capital of Texas is not the bastion of oil culture and a “bigger is better” moral code, unlike Dallas, Houston and quite honestly, most of the state. Rather, quirky, academic, artsy and bohemian Austin is on the forefront of sound eco-friendly objectives. The city is one of the top solar energy producers in North America and hopes to attain a benchmark of 20% renewable energy by 2020.
Like Copenhagen and Oslo, the cosmopolitan capital of Sweden is a staunch advocate for the environment. The hearty populace favors non-vehicle modes of transport and the city has a wonderful bicycle program. Best of all, Stockholm contains the eco-quarter of Hammarby Sj?stad, a carbon-neutral urban development on a former industrial brownfield with 10,000 inhabitants.
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A lush, verdant metropolis of 3.2 million people, Curitiba suffers from a major dearth of publicity outside of Brazil. Green-aware associations however, know the city well. Curitiba has one of the best bus rapid transit systems in the world, with a spectacular 85% of the population on board. The layout of the city is a model for urban planners worldwide and in large measure, illustrates why everyone is green with envy about Curitiba.
Another Pacific Northwest leader on the environment, Seattle, Washington, parlays peerless natural beauty on the perimeter of the city into sound initiatives. These include hybrid public transit vehicles, green construction projects and investments in city parks.
6. Puerto Princesa City, Philippines
Home to Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the small city of Puerto Princesa in the Philippines is green in the most literal sense of the word. Known as “The City in a Forest”, city officials have done well to integrate the population within a lush environment unlike any other in the country. As a result, Puerto Princesa is not as vulnerable to flash floods in the monsoon rain season – a considerable problem in the Philippines.
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Sweden’s “third city”, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, is first when it comes to eco-policy. Lovely Malm?, across the Oresund strait from Copenhagen, Denmark, has been on the cusp of sustainable urban development since the turn of the century. Pedestrian and cyclist-friendly with one of the most avant-garde cityscapes in Europe, Malm? has explicit ambitions to become a veritable eco-city.
Another steward of the environment in Scandinavia, the capital of Iceland earns international kudos every year. Reykjavik aims to be fossil-fuel independent by 2050 and is a leader in geothermal and hydro energy. If the municipal government can deal with noise pollution and fumes from the central city airport in green fashion, the mid-century objective will be even more impressive.
The Black Forest perimeter city of Freiburg is the romantic incarnation of everyone’s idyllic German town. Not only is Freiburg beautiful to look at however, the city is also a paragon of wise environmental analysis. From vast car-free zones to solar power adoption and a world class public transit system, Freiburg is a model for every city to emulate.
A pioneer eco-city, Portland is the fresh epitome of a town that “gets it”. The first city in America to adopt a tough and exhaustive carbon-emission reduction plan, Portland has a popular rapid transit system, high-rate of bicycle use and over 370 km2 of park space. Perhaps more than any other step however, the City of Roses has a progressive populace that cares about the planet.
While V?xj? is tiny in comparison to Bogot? or Kampala and will thus never face certain snags that impede green ambitions in massive population areas, the city of 80,000 people is nonetheless admirable. Municipal leaders enacted a bold forest and lake restoration project decades ago that has since paid lucrative dividends. In 1996, the city made a bet on clean and renewable biomass energy and is on pace to break with fossil fuels within the next generation. A network of bicycle paths is popular with the local populace and citizens can obtain a government subsidy for a number of eco-steps to reduce carbon footprints.
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Austin has done pretty well in making sure its sustainability and profitability are moving in the same direction. Too bad most cities are simply focused on the $$$ part.