Of the 27 high-ranking cities, repeat offenders like San Francisco, NYC, Seattle, and Denver earned top spots. Conspicuously absent from the list is Portland.
The survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit looked at 31 variables, such as mobility, air and water quality, land use, and energy to determine the ranking. That the result covers a broad geographic spectrum is a clear indication of the narrowing "environmental gap between the West and East coasts [...] in the last decade," writes Wendy Koch for the USA Today.
What about Canada?
"The American cities tend to be fairly wealthy and thus able to afford new projects. When wealth was taken into account, the survey finds that the five Canadian cities, including Vancouver (No. 2 overall) and Toronto (No. 9), outperform their U.S. counterparts," Koch points out.
The Economist Intelligence Unit is a research division of The Economist.
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research