Bioneer Chicago Conference

Learn more at http://bioneerschicago.org/

Infrastructure trust-fund & economic sustainability

by Michael Rance

Coming from an incredibly environmentally-friendly city such as Seattle, I wasn't sure what to expect when I first step foot in Chicago. I was surprised to see incredibly beautiful parks, sculptures, and sandy beaches on clear open-water in a city that was often known for being industrial, dirty, and very undesirable to live in. All of these new parks and recreational areas for Chicago residents and travelers are all part of a plan from the Chicago city government to create a Chicago that is built to lead the region in sustainability on the environmental, economic, institutional, and social levels.

During a time of economic austerity such as this, federal, local, and state governments are routinely searching for ways to cut back on costs and find private sector help in deep-red budgets. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his administration passed an act through the Chicago city council that creates an Infrastructure trust-fund, also known as an 'Infrastructure Bank'. An Infrastructure bank meshes together funds from private corporations and labor unions, along with occasional funds from the federal level, and a committee composed of six members on an advisory panel and five members of the group that votes on resolutions. It's an unprecedented move by a major American city, but it seems that the Chicago infrastructure bank will not only help pull the city out of the red, but it will also bring together the various subsections required to have sustainable leadership in a major city.

With the involvement of private-sector lending in the Chicago infrastructure trust-fund along with the infusion of federal and local funds, Chicago has an opportunity to create a stronger bond between the private-sector and public-sector in the Chicagoland area. When both of these economic sectors cooperate more efficiently, Chicago will be closer to more financial and economic sustainability. And with more financial stability and sustainability, the city government can spend more time investing in crucial infrastructure projects such as the repair and construction of water mains throughout the city of chicago. And with the political independence that the city of Chicago will get from using funds mostly from private lenders, the institutional core of the city government will become stronger in handling local issues and will become another part of the sustainable city leadership necessary to prepare the city of Chicago for the future.

Water Systems in Chicago

By Tyler Amodeo

The beauty city of Chicago has been blessed with Lake Michigan and it fresh water source, but the city’s water mains are over  one hundred years old and are prone to leakages. These leakages are a waste of valuable fresh water as well as the envy of the drought ridden south. The Mayor’s office plans on replacing and or upgrading the water mains throughout the city of Chicago. This project will take about ten years and require that all of the water mains be accessed during this process. The process will be grueling for commuters as well as for workers. Fortunately, the city plans to decrease the length of these setbacks by tackling pre-existing road problems at the same time as the water main construction. Such combining efforts will alleviate the need to come back to the same streets for water main repairs. Also, taking care of both issues at once will help conserve the amount of energy that would be needed to rip up the streets twice, and the man power that would be needed. Combining these two efforts will make commuters happier, the price of the work cheaper, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted lower, and repairing the water leaks.

I firmly believe that repairing the water mains would benefit Chicago in a two-fold manner. First, the water wouldn’t be wasted anymore, and secondly, commuters would be forced to travel via public transportations or on bicycles to avoid the enormous traffic delays that follow ripping up the streets. Forcing commuters to use public transportation would significantly help lower carbon dioxide emissions (http://www.newstips.org/2007/08/reducing-chicagos-carbon-footprint/).

As referenced in the article, public transportation vastly outweighs the benefits of bulky, space consuming, hybrid vehicles. Hybrid vehicles do still emit emissions and take up possible public transportation space. One possible way to help drive the public transportation effort would be to offer a discounted CTA long term pass to those switching over from vehicular transportation. Such promotion of the public transportation systems in Chicago would resemble the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon. In Pearl District many walkable areas have been instituted, away from the streets, as well as a light rail system with public transit pickups at each of its stops (http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/portlands_shrinking_carbon_foo.html).

 Though the Pearl District displays environmental advancements, “Compared to 2010, PWB carbon emissions increased 18% in 2011 due to demand for supplemental groundwater pumping and higher vehicle fleet fuel use”, their water related carbon footprints continues to rise. The city of Chicago is steadily increasing the sustainability of its water resource by fixing water main leaks, which simultaneously helps cut down on the cities carbon footprint.

Chicago Public Transportation and Social Safety Net

Economic Hardship in Chicago:
An interactive data mapping Chicago Public Transportation (CTA) in relation to social safety net, economic recession and poverty in the City of Chicago. 

The Chicago maps showing poverty levels and public transportation (CTA) emerged as part of a larger capstone project entitled The Fraying of Chicago’s Social Safety Net by Christopher Whitaker with Dr. Marco Tavanti's Integrative Seminar for the School of Public Service in Spring 2012. The study analyzed data on the economic recession's effect on Chicago’s social safety net. The interactive map of the social safety net showcases where services are available. The map includes payment history from the State of Illinois and City of Chicago showing the extent of budget cuts to the social service non-profit sector. This map also include demographic information showing poverty, food insecurity, and income levels for each ward. Together, this data is used to showcase how the social safety net has frayed over the course of the recession. One of the effects of the recession has been that long-term unemployment has increased demand for social services while at the same time private and public funding for non-profits decreases. This financial strain causes government facilities to close and non-profit providers to shut down operations. This project demonstrate where needs have greatly increased while social safety providers have closed facilities

Access the interactive map here:

http://www.ctapovertymap.org

Chicago Community Climate Action Tookit

The Field Museum worked with partner organizations in four Chicago neighborhoods—Pilsen, Forest Glen, South Chicago, and Bronzeville—to develop a Chicago Community Climate Action Toolkit. Through this project a collaborative partnership was created to understand the region’s climate action plans
, identify community strengths and concerns and develop and implement local climate action projects to build community sustainability capacity. The goal of the initiative is to improve quality of life of Chicago urban communities while stimulating a larger community and organizational network for social and environmental change. The Chicago Community Climate Action Toolkit includes a broad array of climate science and action tools. Check it out at http://climatechicago.fieldmuseum.org/

Chicago Sustainability - A New Office of the Mayor

The City of Chicago, under the leadership of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is embarked in a comprehensive and ambitious sustainability plan. Mayor Emanuel's sustainability vision is to create the institutional opportunities for citizen 's sustainability practices. He said: "I want Chicago to be the greenest city in the world, and I am committed to fostering opportunities for Chicagoans to make sustainability a part of their lives and their experience in the city." 

Chicago is certainly among some of the greenest cities in the world, and with some of the new government projects coming up, the future of Chicago’s sustainability looks bright. The city of Chicago’s sustainability are focused on nine categories: water, air and natural resources, energy, retrofit Chicago, waste and recycling, green buildings, transportation, business and permits, and climate action. In some of these areas, Chicago shines, where in others, it falls short of other major cities.
 
One area in which Chicago really shines is Air & Natural Resources. Chicago is home to more than 8,100 acres of parks, the most in the nation. In addition to its parks, Chicago also has many rooftop gardens. Chicago, which has over four million square feet of rooftop gardens, is the first city to have the roof of its City Hall converted into an eco-friendly garden. The benefits of doing this include lower air-conditioning costs and more controlled storm drainage.

The recently created office of sustainability is a catalyst for working with city programs, departments, businesses and nonprofits to make Chicago a greener city and a quality living community for future generations. Check their work at ChicagoSustainability.org and follow these links on their priorities and goals.

Water	Air & Natural Resources	Energy
Retrofit Chicago	Waste & Recycling	Green Buildings
Transportation	Business & Permits	Climate Action

Corporate Solutions for Sustainable Cities

 

Sustainable cities - the Siemens Way

Read the entire article and watch the videos at http://www.usa.siemens.com/sustainable-cities/

The challenges presented by sustainable urban development are immense. In 2010, 82 percent of Americans lived in cities; by 2050 it will be 90 percent. Cities are responsible for around two thirds of the energy used, 60 percent of all water consumed and 70 percent of all

For a real-world look at how our solutions can be implemented today, please download "Smarter Neighborhoods, Smarter City". This report contains detailed recommendations on how to help America's largest urban area - the City of New York - plan for more sustainable growth. You can also view the Clean Energy Solution survey results conducted in cooperation with The U.S. Conference of Mayors and sponsored by Siemens in order to understand how to address today’s urbanization challenges. Just how sustainable North American Cities are today, you can see in the “US and Canada Green City Index”.

Building Cities, Building Futures: Improved transportation, green buildings, water conservation and reuse and smart grid infrastructure are just a few of the technologies helping to achieve sustainable environmental development in cities.

The Siemens Sustainable Communities Awards

In an effort to recognize communities that are leading the way in sustainable development, Siemens has partnered with the Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) to recognize communities that are successfully taking on the challenges of 21st century sustainable development. For this, the company has created the Siemens Sustainable Community Awards

Building Cities, Building Futures

Our vision of a sustainable city at the Sustainable Cities Tour.

The Siemens city tour wanted to highlight the challenges our cities face and brought together leaders from various areas of expertise to help provide insight into the solutions and programs that can help make these cities more lasting, livable and prosperous. The interactive tour illustrated how Siemens solutions can help foster the sustainable development of cities. Visitors didn’t just learn all about sustainable cities and communities – they experienced them first hand.