How Are U.S. Cities Doing Sustainability? Who Is Getting on the Sustainability Train, and Why?

AbstractUsing information from a 2010 International City/County Management Association survey of 2,176 local governments, this article considers why and how counties, cities, and towns are pursuing sustainability objectives. The article first breaks down sustainability into 12 distinct areas, with discussion of the activities local governments are pursuing in each area, and then develops explanatory models to consider the factors that might motivate sustainability activities. Although most communities are participating in some sustainability activities, they are generally not taking advantage of the more innovative possibilities available to them. Multivariate analyses indicate that sustainability does not appear to be an issue associated with a "typical" division based on race, class, or community wealth. Our evidence also suggests that those communities that give a high priority to energy conservation achieve higher sustainability ratings than other communities.IntroductionIn 1987, the United Nations Brundtland Commission declared: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (United Nations, 1987a). The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) echoed this sentiment by noting that, for communities pursuing sustainability, the focus is on "development [that improves] quality of life, making a place more livable without harming the environment or creating financial burdens for future residents" (ICMA, 2007: 1).Although sustainable development is a global concern, many reasons explain why it is pursued extensively at the local level. First, although growing international consensus indicates that something should be done, less consensus has been reached regarding what should be done to address sustainability concerns. Although its environmental impact is admittedly substantial, the United States has not signed on to any international agreement to reduce its footprint. In the absence of leadership at the national level, cities have emerged as both innovators pursuing broadly based environmental goals and efficient users of the reduced resources available to them as they seek to decrease their own energy consumption. Local executives are clearly aware of the importance of the effect they can have, because more than 1,000 mayors have signed on to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, in which signatories commit to pursuing Kyoto Protocol standards in their communities (United States Conference of Mayors, n.d.). Caitlin Geary, writing for the National League of Cities, further commented that ". . .local officials across the country are providing leadership and advancing economic strategies that incorporate environmental stewardship" (Geary, 2011: 1).Pursuing sustainability at the local level also makes sense in terms of scope; the actions at this level significantly affect transportation, air quality, housing, water, and energy consumption. Because of the concentrated populations in cities, the activities that occur there have significant environmental ramifications that further motivate action at the municipal level. Konisky (201 1) suggested that citizens desire that the level of leadership and responsibility for a particular policy area reflect the level of control the jurisdiction has over related issues. Individuals experience air quality, water quality, transportation, waste issues, and housing primarily in their daily lives, which might indicate that the local level of government is particularly well suited to addressing concerns in these areas. This emphasis on the importance of local activities undertaken in the pursuit of sustainability is not meant to minimize or dismiss the importance of federal and state regulation in ensuring that a consistent level of environmental protections is established and enforced, but it is to say that community members might seek stronger and more apparent leadership from their local government in areas related to sustainability because they experience the ramifications of sustainability initiatives (or lack thereof) in their daily lives. …