Greening America’s Smaller Legacy Cities

Because urban centers generate most of the planet’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, cities often lead in implementing “green” initiatives to conserve resources, ensure clean air and water, and encourage low carbon energy and smart growth land use practices. Today, the United States needs its cities to drive a lower-carbon future while confronting the entwined challenges of averting climate disaster, righting longstanding environmental injustices, and creating green economies that can ensure safe, healthy, equitable, and prosperous places.

This Policy Brief is a condensed version of Greening America’s Smaller Legacy Cities, a Policy Focus Report by Joseph Schilling, Catherine Tumber, and Gabi Velasco.