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Newark, NJ, Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impact Ordinance
Adopted July 2016The city’s ordinance amends the zoning and land use regulations to include an Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts chapter. -
New York, NY, CreateNYC
Adopted August 2019This functional plan sets an agenda for improving New York City’s cultural ecosystem, with Equity and Inclusion as the first issue area. -
Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions To Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations
Executive Order 12898, Adopted February 1994This standalone policy, signed by former President Clinton, was the first major federal action on environmental justice. -
EPA: Equitable Development and Environmental Justice
Updated March 2019This web page describes the relationship between environmental justice and equitable development. -
New York, NY, Local Law No. 64
Local Laws 2017 No. 64, Adopted April 2017This standalone policy amends the administrative code to add a chapter on Environmental Justice. -
Newark, CA, General Plan
Adopted December 2013This city's comprehensive plan belongs to the Age-Friendly Communities, Built Environment and Health, Comprehensive Planning, and Historic Preservation collections. -
Cultural Asset Mapping
Planning Commissioners Journal, 81: Winter 2011by: Robert VoigtThis article belongs to the Historic Preservation and Social Equity collections. -
Preserving African American Historic Places
2012by: Brent Leggs, Kerri Rubman, Byrd WoodThis guide belongs to the Historic Preservation and Social Equity collections. -
Greening the Regulatory Landscape: The Spatial and Temporal Diffusion of Green Building Policies in U.S. Cities
Journal of Sustainable Real Estate, 3(1): 68-90, 2011by: Constantine KontokostaThis article examines how regulatory, economic, and climate variables affect the adoption of municipal green building policies. -
Green Buildings: Economics and Policies
Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 10(2): 329-346, 2016by: Daniel Matisoff, Douglas Noonan, Mallory FlowersThis article reviews the theoretical and empirical context of green building economics and policies. -
Green Building Assessment Systems: A Framework and Comparison for Planners
Journal of the American Planning Association, 74(4): 505-519, 2008by: Rebecca Retzlaff, AICPThis article presents a framework for aligning green building assessment systems with local sustainability goals. -
Core Green Building Certification
2019This guide outlines the ten performance-based best practices of the Core Green Building Certification (CORE). -
Interactive Maps for Energy Benchmarking Data, Programs, and Policies
July 2019This interactive map identifies state and municipal Energy Star programs and benchmarking policies. -
Cleveland Green Building Standard Handbook
December 2017This guide outlines the requirements for developers, builders, and homeowners to satisfy the Cleveland Green Building Standard. -
Tribal Green Building Toolkit
July 2015This toolkit provides resources for tribal nations to assess, prioritize, develop, and implement green building codes. -
Going Beyond Code: A Guide to Creating Effective Green Building Programs for Energy Efficient and Sustainable Communities
2011This guide addresses the best practices and strategies to developing and implementing green building codes. -
Achieving Energy Savings and Emission Reductions from Building Energy Codes: A Primer for State Planning
April 2015This guide outlines how state and local building energy codes can be used to reduce energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions. -
Guide to the 2016 California Green Building Standards Code: Nonresidential
January 2017This guide reviews the requirements, definitions, and intentions of the CALGreen mandatory green building code for nonresidential buildings. -
Building Energy Codes Adoption Toolkit
September 2012This guide outlines the process of adopting energy codes for energy efficiency, savings, and job creation. -
Cambridge, MA, Net Zero Action Plan
Adopted April 2015This functional plan highlights several actions to encourage energy efficiency in existing buildings and net zero energy new construction. -
Portland and Multnomah County, OR, Climate Action Plan
Adopted June 2015This functional plan includes objectives to reduce energy consumption of pre-existing buildings and to achieve zero net carbon emissions in all new buildings and homes. -
New York, NY, One City Built to Last
Adopted September 2014The city’s functional plan aligns green building with greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. -
Cuyahoga Falls, OH, General Development Code
Updated 2016The city’s general development code allows for additional density bonuses for projects with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) or New Construction (LEED-NC) certifications. -
Cranford Township, NJ, Municipal Code
Updated January 2019The township’s municipal code requires Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for all new public buildings and major renovations on public buildings and highlights a Green Building Density Incentive Program. -
Jersey City, NJ, Code of Ordinances
Updated June 2019The city’s code of ordinances outlines green building requirements for new and existing public buildings and provides green building incentives. -
Howard County, MD, Code of Ordinances
Updated August 2019The county’s code of ordinances establishes a Green Building Fund to support green building. -
Northbrook, IL, Code of Ordinances
Updated August 2019The village's code of ordinances requires new public buildings, and provides incentives for private buildings to, receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. -
Miami Lakes, FL, Code of Ordinances
Updated September 2019The town's code of ordinances establishes a green building program for public, residential, commercial, office, and industrial buildings. -
Marin County, CA, Code of Ordinances
Updated August 2019The county’s code of ordinances adopts the California Green Buildings Standards Code with amendments. -
Jasper County, GA, Code of Ordinances
Updated October 2012The county’s code of ordinances provides a density bonus for buildings with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. -
Fort Collins, CO, Downtown Plan
Adopted March 2017This subarea plan belongs to the Downtown Revitalization and Green Building collections. -
Nashville, TN, Downtown Code
Updated August 2017This regulation belongs to the Green Building and Form-Based Zoning collections. -
Elevating Cultural Relevance and Racial Equity in Research and Evaluation
October 2018by: Yuju Park, Charmaine Runes, Michael KatzThis briefing paper highlights the importance of researching and measuring racial equity in public and private projects. -
Local Policies for Environmental Justice: A National Scan
February 2019by: Ana Isabel Baptista, Amanda Sachs, Claudia RotThis report details zoning, land use, and other policy reforms designed to address environmental justice issues from a national scan. -
The Neighborhood That Went to War Against Gentrifiers
CityLab, March 2017by: Natalie DelgadilloThis article describes how a community in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles is resisting a form of gentrification called “artwashing”. -
Leaders as Conveners of Uncomfortable Conversations
ICMA, September 2016This article points out that leaders have a responsibility to facilitate conversations that allow people to confront their biases about race, class, and religion. -
Spatial Justice: Rasquachification, Race and the City
Creative Time Reports, September 2014by: Roberto BedoyaThis article looks at how placemaking supports social justice. -
Eugene, OR, Envision Eugene
Adopted July 2017The city’s comprehensive plan addresses environmental justice and compatibility. -
Equitable Development: Social Equity by Design
May 2018by: Carlton EleyThis recorded lecture looks at how to incorporate environmental justice into the planning process to practice more equitable development. -
Deep Green Renovation: Broad Scale Strategies for Achieving Deep Energy Savings in Existing Buildings
2011by: Catherine KillienThis report focuses on the role of energy efficiency retrofits for existing buildings in reducing the buildings’ impact on climate change. -
U.S. EPA: Green Building
February 2016This web page contains an overview and definition of green building. -
Sustainable Construction: Green Building Design and Delivery
2013by: Charles KibertThis book outlines the history and science of green building while serving as a guide for their design and construction. -
Benefits of Affordable Residential Green Building Incentives
December 2018This report identifies the benefits to incentivizing affordable green housing and approaches to developing and implementing green building programs for low- and moderate-income consumers. -
A Common Definition for Zero Energy Buildings
2015This report provides a definition of Zero Energy Building (ZEB) and related terms. -
Green Building Library
Updated 2019This clearinghouse collects academic, municipal, and media resources related to green building. -
World Green Building Council: About Green Building
2019This web page presents an international overview of green building. -
Strategies for Sustainable Architecture
2006by: Paolo SassiThis book explores the role of buildings in supporting the economic, social, and environmental foundations of sustainability. -
Achieving Scale in the US: A View from the Construction and Real Estate Sectors
2013This briefing paper addresses how green building regulation can better promote energy efficiency and expand the scale of retrofits. -
Re-Assessing Green Building Performance: A Post Occupancy Evaluation of 22 GSA Buildings
September 2011by: Kim Fowler, Emily Rauch, Jordan HendersonThis report examines the performance of 22 buildings that have green building features compared to those without. -
Roadmap for the Future of Commercial Energy Codes
January 2015by: M. Rosenberg, R. Hart, J. ZhangThis report outlines the development of commercial energy codes toward net zero energy buildings.