ICMA offers this page of compiled model codes and ordinances from around the country. Each section aims to help local government professionals take their community’s sustainability ambitions and turn them into tangible sustainability practices through the adoption of codes and ordinances. These resources provide links to tools, research, codes, and ordinances categorized by municipal operations, utilities, transportation and land use, and environmental and natural resource management.
Credit for this series and resource goes to ICMA’s Sustainable Communities Advisory Committee, a dedicated group of local government professionals committed to integrating environmental sustainability into the practice of local government management.
For more information on sustainability visit ICMA’s Sustainable Communities Topic Page.
Sustainability Model Codes and Resources
Municipal Operations
See how local governments are finding ways to reduce negative impacts on human and environmental health through environmentally focused purchasing policies, fleet management plans, and other model policies and ordinances that support efficient and environmentally friendly municipal operations.
Utilities
The way in which water, waste, telecommunication and energy utilities are managed present major opportunities for local governments to reduce their environmental impact. Here you’ll find several codes and ordinances that support environmental sustainability among different utilities.
Transportation and Land Use
The smart growth movement is centered around designing communities for the needs of residents that results in opportunities for economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental sustainability. Here you’ll find examples of land use codes that cover a wide range of smart growth topics including street design guidelines, tiny homes, accessory dwelling units, and complete streets.
Environmental and Natural Resource Management
Local government managers are often forced to balance development with environmental impacts. Low impact development options can help communities harness environmental design to meet their development, environmental and natural resource management goals. Resources include topics on green infrastructure, energy, rain gardens, water retention, native plants, and pollution.
Cross Functional Resources
Smart and sustainable growth can take on many different forms. These resources take a broad view of sustainability and offer a compilation or resources with co-benefits that can contribute to multiple aspects of environmental sustainability.
Quote By: Peter Torrellas, National Business Manager for State and Local Government, Siemens
Peter Torrellas is a fellow at the Center for Neighborhood Technology leading Smart City initiatives. His current focus is on building performance, water infrastructure, energy strategies, and public-private partnerships. He previously held the position of Chief Technology Officer at Siemens Infrastructure & Cities. His portfolio included logistics, aviation, passenger and freight rail, ports, and road and city mobility. Peter has more than 20 years of experience in innovation and infrastructure and began his passion for making our cities smarter more than a decade ago.
Prediction
The new year will bring a new set of opportunities to leverage a growing appetite in equity markets for infrastructure projects as we learn to allocate risk and capital in new ways. Water systems could greatly benefit, especially in terms of decentralized energy systems and the Internet of Things. Water systems are great candidates for building resilience and sustainability into the community; the water energy nexus has taught that, for many cities, water is one of the largest consumers of energy in their utility profile.
2019 Tip
Embracing the power of new and existing civic networks to create better outcomes for people and bring innovative ideas in erms of how to use technology and how to pay for it is a priority in 2019. The new networks being formed include foundations, academia, local anchor industries, the private sector, and national and global organizations investing in driving growth in our cities. We have realized that no one category of actors or institutions has all the capabilities and capacity to solve new challenges; focusing on the social good will allow us to be successful.
Learn More
Visit the Infrastructure Planning topic area on the ICMA website to access resources.
