U.S. Entry to the International Competition for Sustainable Urban System Design

Entries were submitted prior to and defended at the 22nd World Gas Conference in Tokyo, Japan

The International Competition for Sustainable Urban System Design (IC-SUSD) was initiated in 2001 to stimulate new thinking and practices in urban design, planning and management that could result in more livable cities around the world. Initiated by the International Gas Union (IGU), the competition invited nine nations in seven geographic regions to select one city of at least 100,000 in population to serve as the subject for their design entries.

Each design was to include a “Total Energy & Environmental System," one that could accommodate future urban growth and development without having an adverse impact on natural resources or emitting greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

These total systems were to integrate state-of-the-art energy, emissions, effluent and solid-waste control technologies along with transportation, building and infrastructure design elements, in such a fashion as to render the communities sustainable 100 years into the future.

In addition to the future design components of the entries, each was to include a practical “roadmap” outlining the institutional, economic, social and technological action steps that could lead a community towards sustainability in the short-term (next 5-30 years).

The competing nations and their selected cities included:

• Argentina/Buenos Aires
• Canada/Vancouver
• China/Changshu
• Germany/Berlin
• India/Goa
• Japan/Tokyo and Mishima
• Russia/Vologda
• United States and Mexico/San Diego and Tijuana

The U.S. entry also included a technical resources guide for all American cities, entitled “A Blueprint for Urban Sustainability: Integrating Sustainable Energy Practices into Metropolitan Planning."

The guide contains innovative approaches to sustainable energy planning, derived from the seven finalist cities in the preliminary U.S. competition, staged in 2001 to select the subject city for the U.S. entry. It also provides information on clean power generation, distribution and use technologies, alternative transportation fuels and fleets, energy-efficiency programs and practices, financing for municipal sustainability, and emergent and future technologies.

The international teams submitted their entries to a jury of internationally recognized energy, environmental, urban planning and management experts in February of 2003, and subsequently defended their designs at the 22nd World Gas Conference in Tokyo, Japan, in June of 2003.

The conference, entitled “Catalyzing an Eco-Responsible Future,” also featured a public exposition of the designs and a symposium on sustainable urban development that was attended by leaders from government, industry, academia, and non-governmental organizations from around the world. The IGU intends to produce a compendium of all of the designs and to make them available to metropolitan communities around the world.

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