Future of Cities Featured

The Philly Tree Plan: Sowing the Seeds of a Greener, More Sustainable City

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As cities around the world grapple with the challenges of urbanization, many are turning to nature-based solutions to create more livable, sustainable communities. Here in Philadelphia, the city has taken an ambitious step forward with the Philly Tree Plan, an initiative aimed at increasing the city’s tree canopy cover and enhancing the benefits that trees provide to residents and the environment.

Launched in 2020, the Philly Tree Plan sets out to increase tree canopy in the city to 30% by 2030. This increase in tree coverage is expected to bring a wide range of benefits, including improved air and water quality, reduced stormwater runoff, and a reduction in the urban heat island effect. ESI quantified these benefits and here is what we found:

 

Achieving the desired tree canopy goal is no small feat. It requires a coordinated effort from city officials, community organizations, and residents to plant, care for, and maintain the forestry that will form the backbone of a more sustainable city. To this end, the Philly Tree Plan includes a range of strategies to make tree planting and maintenance a citywide priority. One approach is to work with community organizations and volunteers to plant and care for trees in public spaces, such as parks, streets, and sidewalks. By engaging with local residents and community groups, the city can tap into the expertise and passion of those who are most invested in the health and well-being of their neighborhoods.

In addition, the Philly Tree Plan offers incentives for property owners to plant and care for trees on their land. This not only helps to expand the city’s tree canopy coverage but empowers residents to take an active role in creating a more environmentally-focused, livable city. Finally, the Philly Tree Plan seeks to integrate tree planting and maintenance into city planning and development projects. By prioritizing trees as a key component of urban infrastructure, the city can ensure that they are a central part of the city’s growth and development, not an afterthought.

The tens of thousands of jobs created by the Philly Tree Plan would include numerous potential employment opportunities for workers with less than a bachelor’s degree. These workers would be eligible for various direct employment opportunities related to the Plan, including numerous public-sector tree care and customer service positions. In addition, contracting work associated with the Plan could be used to support new or existing Minority, Woman, or Disabled-Owned Business Enterprises (MWDSBEs) in Philadelphia. This is a critically important opportunity in a majority-minority city where diversity, equity, and inclusion in the private sector is a core concern.

The Philly Tree Plan represents a bold, forward-thinking approach to urban sustainability that puts nature at the center of city planning and development. By sowing the seeds of a greener, more sustainable city, Philadelphia is creating a brighter future for all of its residents.

 

Melissa Wright, Associate Director

Melissa is a former director at ESI. Prior to her time at the firm, she worked for Teach for America as the Director of Performance Measurement and Evaluation. Ms. Wright currently serves as Senior Director for Data and Policy with The City of Philadelphia Commerce Department’s Office of Economic Opportunity.

 

Linking Transportation and Land Use

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The planning profession often has to look ahead, to see the bigger picture, and help connect people to their destination. One principle that helps achieve this is linkage between land use and transportation. This is vital for organizing at the neighborhood, community, county, and regional scales. Transportation services and infrastructure can impact land use patterns, quality of life of an area, and the overall economic trajectory of a region.

Before going too far in describing how this principle can be applied, it is important to define three components:

Land use – The fundamental setting and context for determining application of the land use/transportation linkage principle. Are you dealing with a local neighborhood issue or something at a higher scale that may involve more agencies to consult or review a proposed solution? Are you in a semi-rural area or a dense urban setting? Both the primary project and the associated benefits may be affected.

Transportation – The key determinant that may involve greater review and comment, depending on the mode (highway, transit, vans, bicycles, etc.), scope of the project, the jurisdiction(s) involved and the level of community outreach and information required. Sometimes, however, a controversial proposal may create a level of public interaction that is beyond the initial physical scale of a project.

Linkage – The key ingredient for the principle to work as designed, in order to yield multiple benefits. Linkage can include physical connections, improved accessibility, coordination, and integration. Recognition by participants that these outcomes are important is needed to yield both direct and indirect benefits. Linkage works two ways: the project affects the geographic area, and the geographic area will affect the project. An open and participatory involvement process typically helps to keep all participants informed and maintaining a stake in the outcome.

All professions have various qualifications, standards, and principles that reflect their values and approaches to the issues that they address on a daily routine. These standards are intended to frame ethics and core education and practice requirements to ensure a fundamental level of attainment for practitioners and academics engaged.

Applying the principle

Conceptually, two examples come to mind which demonstrate how linkage can work. One way is through transit-oriented development (TOD), involving a rail or transit line, including busses. In legislation and in local ordinances, TOD usually involves development within a quarter to a half mile radius around a station. This compact area is intended to facilitate use of transit, including walking, handicap access and close-in parking for driver access. Accessibility to the station and transit platforms is also critical. If the new or existing development does not provide effective accessibility, then the result will become transit adjacent development (TAD) rather than TOD. The TOD area can also be used to provide development bonuses for locating there, as well as a rationale for financing mechanisms to capture a portion of the value of new investments to derive funds for other municipal projects. In Pennsylvania, the Transit Revitalization Investment Act (TRID) is intended to support the creation of TODs and the simultaneous funding approach for other investments.

Another way to showcase linkage is through interchange area districts involving cooperating developers, office parks, and shopping centers to create an incentive for locating around the interchange and a financing approach for needed public improvements to benefit both the community and the participants. Here in the Greater Philadelphia region, PennDOT has been an active partner with Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in Chester (Rt.29 and 202) and Montgomery counties (King of Prussia/Upper Merion) have been successful in such approaches, including working with local Transportation System Management Agencies (TMAs) for supplemental van services in coordination with SEPTA where possible.

How we can help

Land use and transportation linkage works and is available for use in a variety of settings beyond the two instances that I have described. Now is a particularly critical time to identify opportunities to leverage this principle. Understanding how transit adds value to development projects and determining how it can support broader community goals and objectives is crucial for long-term success. Situations like TOD investment will play a significant role in the years to come because of the American Jobs Plan providing significant federal investment across the United States. ESI combines economic, strategic, and analytics capabilities to help clients navigate an ever-changing environment and achieve these types of objectives. Likewise, thoughtful engagement with decision-makers, stakeholders, and the public provides the foundation for sound planning, successful projects, and better communities.

 

Richard Bickel | Bickel@econsultsolutions.com

Richard Bickel is a member of ESI’s Senior Advisory Board. He has been a practicing professional planner for more than 43 years. Richard has been active in the American Planning Association, American Institute of Certified Planners, and Transportation Research Board throughout his career. He currently serves on the Legislative Committee of the Pennsylvania Chapter of APA and was President of the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the APA, one of the forerunners of the current statewide chapter, and a member of the national Legislative and Policy Committee and a site visitor for the Planning Accreditation Board.

Mini-Webinar Series: Critical Issues Facing the Higher Education Sector

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In April and May of 2023, ESI will host a series of weekly mini-webinars addressing critical issues currently facing the higher education sector. Topics will range from navigating supplier diversity, to understanding HBCUs and economic development, organizational leadership in uncertain times, as well as the current and future role international students will play at American institutions. These discussions will be led by a diverse group of thought leaders and industry experts.

All sessions will be moderated by Lee Huang, President of ESI and Lead Principal for ESI’s Universities and Hospitals practice.

These mini-webinars will occur every Tuesday from April 4 to May 23, 12:00-12:30 pm.

Learn more about the different topics below or register here.

April 4: Adam Glaser, Campus 2.0- Creating Lifelong Engagement with Alumni
How people gain workforce skills and credentials is fast evolving. How should institutions respond? We’ll explore what some are calling “Campus 2.0,” a complete rethink on how to organize campus footprints and create lifelong ties to students.

April 11: Bernadine Hawes, Anchoring Innovation Ecosystems
Universities are playing a greater role in driving the innovation that is powering regions’ economic resilience and competitiveness. We’ll look at how institutions’ innovation work has evolved over time and what it might look like going forward.

April 18: Angela Dowd-Burton, Supplier Diversity on Campus
A successful supplier diversity program is essential to the healthy ecosystem that surrounds a university.  How can educational institutions contribute to economic inclusion that helps to support thriving communities? Learn the key components for establishing, growing, and sustaining and supplier diversity program that works.

April 25: Dr. Jamie Green and Dr. Joseph Whittaker, HBCUs in Economic Development
Like all institutions, HBCUs are innovating in response to crisis and opportunity. Come find out how HBCUs are approaching the value proposition of college, building pathways to middle class jobs, and contribute to regional economic development.

May 2: Dr. Benjamin B. Olshin, Chinese Students in American Institutions- Past Present, and Future
Chinese students have been a prominent part of some college campuses. Geopolitical uncertainties are complicating these relationships. We’ll look into why that is and what institutions should do in response.

May 9: Dr. Curtis Gregory, Organizational Leadership in Uncertain Times
Leading a university is hard enough in calm waters. These tumultuous times tax leaders tremendously. We’ll explore research-based methods for leaders to cultivate the emotional intelligence and communications skills to succeed.

May 16: Robert Fleming and Raymond Barclay, Sustainability
Sustainability is increasingly a framework by which institutions are rethinking their operations, educational offerings, and core missions. We’ll consider the case for this paradigm shift in philosophical and practical terms.

May 23: Dan Garofalo, The Bottom-line Case for Energy Efficiency
Institutions sit at an important intersection as large utility users, thought leaders on environmental sustainability, and flashpoints for protests around energy consumption. We’ll explore energy strategies that account for all of these perspectives at scale.

Moving Cities: Pittsburgh

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Unique Public Transportation Infrastructure

Among major American cities, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania finishes in the top ten for transit ridership. Impressively, Pittsburgh’s public transit system achieved this success without a single heavy rail line: all but one of the major cities with higher transit ridership than Pittsburgh feature at least one heavy rail line (Seattle is the only exception).

Pittsburgh’s most iconic mode of public transportation is today used primarily as a tourist attraction: the Monongahela and Duquesne Inclines. These funiculars were originally built to transport workers residing at the top of the hill known as “Mount Washington” (located directly across the river from Downtown Pittsburgh) to industrial jobs along the banks of the Monongahela River, one of Pittsburgh’s three intersecting rivers. Today, while some may still use these inclines for transportation (after all, public transportation cards are accepted as payment), the inclines are best known as one of the city’s top tourist attractions, allowing visitors to access breathtaking views from Mount Washington.

Today, Pittsburgh features two light rail lines connecting the South Hills neighborhoods and Allegheny County suburbs to downtown and the city’s North Shore, an entertainment district. Free transit access is available if traveling between downtown and the North Shore.

Still, these light rail lines do not run through the city’s densest area, the East End neighborhoods including Oakland, Shadyside, and East Liberty. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, the light rail lines are not the highest-ridership lines in Pittsburgh’s Port Authority system. That honor instead falls to the innovative mode of rapid transit that does serve these neighborhoods — the Martin Luther King, Jr. East Busway.

The East Busway is a bus-only highway that begins in downtown Pittsburgh and runs through the densest neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, as well as a few of its eastern suburbs. It was actually the city’s second busway – the South Busway, developed in 1977, was the first Bus Rapid Transit development in the United States. It was followed by the East Busway in 1983. In a city like Pittsburgh, the busway allows for transit service that is both dependable – operating on a dedicated road – and flexible – allowing for routes that begin and terminate in different locations.

                                               Source: Port Authority of Allegheny County

The East Busway’s primary buses are seen above — routes “P1”, “P2” and “P3”, with the “P” name matching the route’s purple color on the system map. Routes P1 and P2 are the most popular in the Port Authority system. Some East Busway routes (such as P1 and P2) begin in the city’s downtown, while others (including P2) begin in Oakland, a college neighborhood in the East End that serves as the city’s “second downtown”. All pass through the East End of the city. While routes P1-P3 stop at the end of the busway in the city’s east suburbs, more than ten other routes (identified by route names beginning with “P”) speed through the city on the East Busway, then merge into regular traffic to serve far-flung suburbs and towns in eastern Allegheny County with rapid service to the East End and Downtown Pittsburgh.

There are now three busways in Pittsburgh, including the West Busway which serves both local travelers and allows rapid transportation to Pittsburgh’s airport, located in the city’s western suburbs. The city is investigating an extension of the busway to serve more of its eastern suburbs.

 

Moving Cities is a series of posts dedicated to exploring the vast diversity of cities and how their transit systems shape them. Moving Cities examines the organizational structure of transit in relation to the city, the economics of the transit system, and the role of the transit system in the economics of the city, and last, but certainly not least, the experience of the city from the perspective of the transit user. 

 

John LaVaccare | LaVaccare@econsultsolutions.com

John LaVaccare is an senior analyst at ESI. As a graduate of the Master’s in Public Policy and Management program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College, where he concentrated in Urban Development, John LaVaccare has academic knowledge in urban economic development, urban design, urban ecology, and real estate development. Prior to ESI, Mr. LaVaccare gained work experience in local government, housing policy, and stormwater management. Mr. LaVaccare also has extensive experience in academic communications research, journalism, and professional writing.

Steve Wray Named Executive Director of the Block Center for Technology and Society

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Beginning in March, ESI Senior Vice President and Principal Steve Wray will be stepping down from his current role with the firm to serve as Executive Director of the Block Center for Technology and Society at Carnegie Mellon University. Steve has been a great asset to ESI over the past 5 years and an invaluable teammate whom we will all miss.

We are excited to see him take on this new position and look forward to his continued success!

I have some personal news to share. Beginning in March, I will be starting a new role as Executive Director of the Block Center for Technology and Society at Carnegie Mellon University in my hometown of Pittsburgh (and my graduate alma mater). I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the faculty and staff at CMU and the Heinz College and am looking forward to working with the numerous partners and collaborators that the Block Center has built since its creation in 2019. The work of the Block Center focuses on two key pillars – the future of work and responsible artificial intelligence – and I can think of no better time to be diving in on these rapidly emerging issues. The intersection of technology, society and public policy is rapidly changing, and Carnegie Mellon and the Block Center are well-positioned to take a leadership role in developing the solutions that will guide this transformation and ensure that technological change and innovation is a force for social good and inclusion.

While I am excited to return to Carnegie Mellon and Pittsburgh, it is going to be tough to match the experience I have had in the Greater Philadelphia region. 28 years ago when I came to Philadelphia and joined the Economy League as deputy director and then executive director, I don’t think that I understood that I would have the privilege to work closely with, and learn so much from, the many creative, innovative and passionate leaders that make this region truly World Class. As I learned quickly, there really is something different about Philadelphia. It is a Philly Thing! Thanks to all!

And a huge thanks to the entire team at Econsult Solutions! For the past five years, I have been able to work locally, nationally and internationally with the incredible team at ESI. ESI combines the best of academic research with a practical understanding of economics, government and strategy that is unmatched. Being a part of the team and being able to work with fantastic clients gave me an opportunity to learn and apply my skills in a wide variety of settings. I can’t thank the principals enough – Dick Voith, Steve Mullin, Lee Huang, Peter Angelides, Gina Lavery and Ethan Conner-Ross – for their wisdom, guidance, and partnership. I am excited to see how the firm grows and develops in the coming years.

Steve Wray | Wray@econsultsolutions.com

Over the past five years, Steve’s work with ESI has focused on the development and implementation of programs and projects that support the firm’s vision and short- and long-term plans. He has led the work of the firm’s principals and senior staff in developing new partnerships, expanding and building on existing practice areas, and integrating the firm’s strengths in economic analysis and thought leadership. Mr. Wray joined ESI in 2017 as a director and was promoted to Vice President, Strategic Initiatives in 2019.

Paving the Way for EV Policy in America

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Don’t miss our upcoming webinar produced in partnership with Santander UK. This hour-long session will bring together city leaders, urban planners, and practitioners to examine the challenges and opportunities electric vehicles (EVs) pose, discuss upcoming policies/strategies, and present new ideas on preparing for broader EV adoption in America.

Cities and communities across the US are beginning to take further strides towards fully adopting EVs and integrating them into the fabric of their roads and urban infrastructure. The benefits of making the switch to EVs are well-documented and growing, but there are still several challenges that need to be overcome to allow for an easier and equitable transition.

Addressing these barriers will need effective, comprehensive, and long-term policies for communities to reach electrification and emission targets. Municipalities both large and small will need to look to their states not only for guidance on EV policy, but also as a partner ready to champion their specific needs on the federal level.

Attendees will have the opportunity to pose questions and engage with a panel of industry experts to better understand the US market and current views on electrification.

Panelists include:

  • Paul Ayres – Founder, Connected Kerb
  • Karen Lightman – Executive Director of Metro21, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Ali Maher – Director of Rutgers CAIT (Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation)
  • Timothy Phelps – Executive Director of Transportation Management Association of Chester County (TMACC)
  • Emily Yates – Chief Innovation Officer at Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)

Moderated by Steve Wray, Senior Vice President and Principal at Econsult Solutions

Click here to learn more and register for this free webinar.