Boston is a leader in sustainability and climate change planning. The city has launched initiatives and passed ordinances in green building, renewable energy, transit-oriented development, and related areas and is attempting to link some of these initiatives to economic development in clean technologies. Other cities and towns in the metropolitan area are also making great progress on the sustainability and climate change fronts.
Boston Green seeks to highlight these efforts and situate them in the context of what other cities around the world are doing. We also aim to provide useful links to explain some of the key clean technologies being developed and employed in the Boston area. We’re just getting started, so we welcome your feedback.
The Emerald Cities Collaborative is a new initiative of Professor Joan Fitzgerald to link universities around the world that have a commitment to urban sustainability and are actively engaged with their city in seeking a more sustainable path to development. Look for announcements on universities joining the collaborative in the coming months.
Joan Fitzgerald is professor and director of the graduate program in Law, Policy, and Society at Northeastern University and director of the urban studies undergraduate minor. Her third book, Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development (Oxford Univ. Press), examines how cities are creating economic development opportunities in several green sectors and discusses the state and national policy needed to support these efforts. Emerald Cities builds on her 2002 book, Economic Revitalization: Strategies and Cases for City and Suburb, (Sage, with Nancey Green Leigh) which identifies strategies for incorporating sustainability and social justice goals into urban economic development planning. Her 2006 book, Moving Up in the New Economy, (Cornell Univ. Press) focuses on how to build career ladders for low-income workers.
Fitzgerald has published in academic journals such as Economic Development Quarterly, Urban Affairs Quarterly, Urban Affairs, the Journal of International Journal of Urban and Regional Researc and the political journal, The American Prospect. Her academic and consulting work has been supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur, Annie E. Casey, Rockefeller Brothers, Rockefeller, Surdna, Century, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations. She has also conducted research for the U.S. Department of Labor, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the Boston Housing Authority and other government agencies.
Isaac is a first-year MS student in the Law and Public Policy program at Northeastern University. His major areas of interest include clean energy, sustainability and climate change policy. Isaac received his BA in East Asian Studies from Colby College in 2004 and spent several years after graduation living abroad, both in Japan and in Western Australia. Upon returning to the US in 2008, Isaac spent two years living in his native Maine and working for the state’s child care subsidy program before moving to Boston in late 2010. When not studying or working, Isaac enjoys cooking, reading and exploring the Boston area.
Great Blog – some great resources that I will definitely take advantage of! You might find the program that I manage, Challenge for Sustainability, interesting. I would love to meet to see where potential partnerships or speaking opportunities for Joan might exist!
Hi there, I work with the Solarize Mass-Boston program and we have a newsletter containing some exciting information about past and upcoming solar events that your readers might appreciate. Please email me at cclay@smartpower.org if you are interested in receiving some information that your blog can share. Many thanks!