Portland ranks first for most sustainable U.S. city of 2006
By Staff Writer
Monday, June 5, 2006
The City of Roses added to its list of green accolades last week when a sustainability think tank named Portland the No. 1 most sustainable U.S. city for 2006.
Portland had placed second to San Francisco in the 2005 rankings issued by SustainLane, a Bay Area-based Web outfit that advocates sustainable living. The cities flip-flopped at the top in 2006.
SustainLane rated 50 U.S. cities in 15 categories: air quality, affordability, innovation, knowledge base and communications, green economy, energy and climate change policy, green building, local food and agriculture, natural disaster risk, planning and land use, solid waste diversion, tap water quality, and transportation and commuting.
Portland earned the top spot in the rankings by posting the best average across the 15 categories.
Portland tied for the top spot in three categories - knowledge base and communications, energy and climate change policy, and innovation - and stood alone at No. 1 in one category - green economy.
Portland rated best in the green economy category thanks to a high rate of farmers markets and green buildings per capita and numerous local green business directories, according to SustainLane.
Portland placed second in the air quality, tap water quality and green building categories.
Portland's worst performance came in the affordability category, in which the city placed 32nd.
Rounding out the top 10 were Seattle, Philadelphia, Chicago, Oakland, New York, Boston, Denver and Minneapolis.
Columbus, Ohio, placed 50th and was rated the United States' least sustainable city.
Praise for Portland is nothing new from SustainLane. Earlier this year, the think tank rated the same 50 cities on their preparedness for a spike in oil costs, and Portland placed sixth in that survey.
