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USC Center Hosts First Climate Change Forum
USC News
University of Southern California
* USC professor Dan Mazmanian, left, and Con Howe, managing director
of CityVIew
* Photo/Tom Queally
By Matthew Kredell on December 14, 2011 11:52 AM
The Center for Sustainable Cities, housed within the USC Sol Price
School of Public Policy, held its inaugural forum on climate change in
November.
Mary Nichols, chair of the California Environmental Protection Agency's
Air Resources Board (ARB), offered the keynote address on the role of
cities in mitigating climate change. USC Price professor Dan Mazmanian,
director of the Judith and John Bedrosian Center on Governance and the
Public Enterprise and a member of the executive committee of the USC
Center for Sustainable Cities, and Con Howe, managing director of the
institutional investment firm CityView and a member of the latter
center's advisory board, moderated a discussion following the speech.
Hilda Blanco, research professor and interim director of the Center for
Sustainable Cities, followed with an explanation of the ongoing research
planned at the center. Among current projects, Blanco discussed an
assessment of the capacity for Southern California's water supply plans
and strategies to meet the challenges of climate change; modeling and
economic impact analysis of effective carbon-reduction strategies; and
measuring urban sustainability. She also explained the center's summer
research fellows program, where graduate students are selected to
conduct supervised research.
Recent projects include a comparative study of climate change adaptation
plans in the United States, a literature review of research on the
effectiveness of retrofitting strategies and a comparative analysis of
sustainability rating systems.
USC Price dean Jack H. Knott and senior associate dean for research and
technology Genevieve Giuliano gave introductions for the event.
The mission of the Center for Sustainable Cities is to improve the
environment, economic vitality and social equity of metropolitan areas
through multidisciplinary research, education and community outreach.
The center was established in 1998 and moved to USC Price (then named
the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development) in 2009.
"This center is very important to our school because it reaches every
facet of what we do at our school," Knott said. "It touches on real
estate, urban development, land use, planning, public policy,
transportation, housing and governance. This center is really a
centerpiece of the school.
"Climate change is perhaps today's most important issue that we face as
a global society. I'm pleased that this event is taking place, and we
get to promote a dialogue and look at innovative solutions for global
climate change."
In her keynote remarks, Nichols discussed SB 375, or the Sustainable
Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, and what the ARB is
doing to support cities in achieving the targets for reductions in
greenhouse gas emissions. For the Southern California Association of
Governments, these targets are an 8 percent reduction by 2020 and 13
percent by 2035. The metric used for measuring reduction is amount of
vehicle miles traveled.
"This whole issue of how to make our cities more livable and less of a
burden on the environment has been with us for many, many years,"
Nichols said. "Some of us have developed gray hair while working on it.
One of the things we've tried to do over the years is find ways to show
people why sprawl is bad and why having a more compact urban development
form would be better for the economy, the environment, investments and
transportation, etc. SB 375 happened to come along at a helpful time
because it allows us to give cities benchmarks to compare and contrast
and compete against each other for the development they want."
Nichols doesn't believe we are going to see the last of gasoline and the
conventional internal combustion engine anytime soon. Instead, she
foresees the ingenuity of auto companies leading to having vehicles that
essentially look like today's cars and run on today's fuels but get 75
miles to the gallon in the near future.
Nichols explained that what the ARB needs from the college level are
valid, accurate models that are capable of forecasting the effects of
different transportation and land-use policies on future greenhouse gas
emissions and a research community to measure statewide progress under
SB 375.
"The main takeaway message that I got was that we need to look at more
metrics and a way of measuring the actual reduction of greenhouse gases
to analyze if these policies are working," said Linda Lou, a second-year
Master of Planning student with an emphasis on sustainability. "I think
everyone has the feel-good goals of reducing emissions, and many cities
are looking into that. The objectives are very positive. How we prove
the strategies are working is a different story. I thought it was good
that Mary Nichols emphasized that."
That is where the Center for Sustainable Cities can make an impact.
Blanco indicated that the center, which researches international issues
but also has a special focus on the Los Angeles area, stresses how
strategies and policies should be evidenced-based.
"We'd like to see them work," she said.
The center conducts research in three thematic areas: cities and climate
change, efficient and sustainable infrastructure, and sustainable
policies and governance.
Blanco explained how the snowpack is decreasing; estimates show that it
may be reduced by 25 to 40 percent by 2050 and 60 to 80 percent by the
end of the century. If that occurs, 25 percent of stored water supplies
in the state may not be available by the end of the century.
The Safe, Clean and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2010
established a plan to make a 20-percent reduction in water use in
California by 2020. In USC's region, this would mean a daily 36-gallon
decrease in consumption per capita.
"Urban sustainability is crucial due to increasing urbanization and the
challenges of climate change," Blanco said. "We at the Center for
Sustainable Cities are beginning to contribute to make knowledge in this
area more rigorous, productive and applicable to urban regions."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
USC News
University of Southern California
* USC professor Dan Mazmanian, left, and Con Howe, managing director
of CityVIew
* Photo/Tom Queally
By Matthew Kredell on December 14, 2011 11:52 AM
The Center for Sustainable Cities, housed within the USC Sol Price
School of Public Policy, held its inaugural forum on climate change in
November.
Mary Nichols, chair of the California Environmental Protection Agency's
Air Resources Board (ARB), offered the keynote address on the role of
cities in mitigating climate change. USC Price professor Dan Mazmanian,
director of the Judith and John Bedrosian Center on Governance and the
Public Enterprise and a member of the executive committee of the USC
Center for Sustainable Cities, and Con Howe, managing director of the
institutional investment firm CityView and a member of the latter
center's advisory board, moderated a discussion following the speech.
Hilda Blanco, research professor and interim director of the Center for
Sustainable Cities, followed with an explanation of the ongoing research
planned at the center. Among current projects, Blanco discussed an
assessment of the capacity for Southern California's water supply plans
and strategies to meet the challenges of climate change; modeling and
economic impact analysis of effective carbon-reduction strategies; and
measuring urban sustainability. She also explained the center's summer
research fellows program, where graduate students are selected to
conduct supervised research.
Recent projects include a comparative study of climate change adaptation
plans in the United States, a literature review of research on the
effectiveness of retrofitting strategies and a comparative analysis of
sustainability rating systems.
USC Price dean Jack H. Knott and senior associate dean for research and
technology Genevieve Giuliano gave introductions for the event.
The mission of the Center for Sustainable Cities is to improve the
environment, economic vitality and social equity of metropolitan areas
through multidisciplinary research, education and community outreach.
The center was established in 1998 and moved to USC Price (then named
the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development) in 2009.
"This center is very important to our school because it reaches every
facet of what we do at our school," Knott said. "It touches on real
estate, urban development, land use, planning, public policy,
transportation, housing and governance. This center is really a
centerpiece of the school.
"Climate change is perhaps today's most important issue that we face as
a global society. I'm pleased that this event is taking place, and we
get to promote a dialogue and look at innovative solutions for global
climate change."
In her keynote remarks, Nichols discussed SB 375, or the Sustainable
Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, and what the ARB is
doing to support cities in achieving the targets for reductions in
greenhouse gas emissions. For the Southern California Association of
Governments, these targets are an 8 percent reduction by 2020 and 13
percent by 2035. The metric used for measuring reduction is amount of
vehicle miles traveled.
"This whole issue of how to make our cities more livable and less of a
burden on the environment has been with us for many, many years,"
Nichols said. "Some of us have developed gray hair while working on it.
One of the things we've tried to do over the years is find ways to show
people why sprawl is bad and why having a more compact urban development
form would be better for the economy, the environment, investments and
transportation, etc. SB 375 happened to come along at a helpful time
because it allows us to give cities benchmarks to compare and contrast
and compete against each other for the development they want."
Nichols doesn't believe we are going to see the last of gasoline and the
conventional internal combustion engine anytime soon. Instead, she
foresees the ingenuity of auto companies leading to having vehicles that
essentially look like today's cars and run on today's fuels but get 75
miles to the gallon in the near future.
Nichols explained that what the ARB needs from the college level are
valid, accurate models that are capable of forecasting the effects of
different transportation and land-use policies on future greenhouse gas
emissions and a research community to measure statewide progress under
SB 375.
"The main takeaway message that I got was that we need to look at more
metrics and a way of measuring the actual reduction of greenhouse gases
to analyze if these policies are working," said Linda Lou, a second-year
Master of Planning student with an emphasis on sustainability. "I think
everyone has the feel-good goals of reducing emissions, and many cities
are looking into that. The objectives are very positive. How we prove
the strategies are working is a different story. I thought it was good
that Mary Nichols emphasized that."
That is where the Center for Sustainable Cities can make an impact.
Blanco indicated that the center, which researches international issues
but also has a special focus on the Los Angeles area, stresses how
strategies and policies should be evidenced-based.
"We'd like to see them work," she said.
The center conducts research in three thematic areas: cities and climate
change, efficient and sustainable infrastructure, and sustainable
policies and governance.
Blanco explained how the snowpack is decreasing; estimates show that it
may be reduced by 25 to 40 percent by 2050 and 60 to 80 percent by the
end of the century. If that occurs, 25 percent of stored water supplies
in the state may not be available by the end of the century.
The Safe, Clean and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2010
established a plan to make a 20-percent reduction in water use in
California by 2020. In USC's region, this would mean a daily 36-gallon
decrease in consumption per capita.
"Urban sustainability is crucial due to increasing urbanization and the
challenges of climate change," Blanco said. "We at the Center for
Sustainable Cities are beginning to contribute to make knowledge in this
area more rigorous, productive and applicable to urban regions."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress