How Green Is Your City? The SustainLane U.S. City Rankings

In our carbon-challenged, post-Katrina world, how do America's largest cities stack up in terms of sustainability? Which cities are more self-sufficient and better-prepared for our uncertain future, and which cities are operating business-as-usual?

How Green is Your City? examines the outcome of a sustainability study of the 50 largest U.S. cities. How Green is Your City? employed 15 categories by which to measure each city's performance and ranked them overall according to category and cumulative results. Among those standards:

Public transit use

Walkability and bikability

Air and tap water quality

Planning/land use

City innovation

Affordability

Energy/climate change policy

Renewable energy

Local food/agriculture

Green economy

Sustainability management

Leading the pack is Portland, Oregon, with its high quality of life and commitment to green building, local food, alternative fuels and renewable energy, while Columbus, Ohio, with its dependence on the automobile, coal-generated power and poor public transit ridership, ranks at the bottom.

How Green is Your City? offers an in-depth analysis of each city's management policies, strengths and challenges, as well as the emerging job and tax base expansion opportunities with the growth of clean technologies.

How Green is Your City? will appeal to city planners, economic development professionals, legislators, green businesses, as well as anyone interested in their quality of life and making their city a more sustainable place.