ProGov21 Policy Library

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2021

Level City or Town, County

State(s) All States

Source Safe Routes to School National Partnership

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Public Spaces, Transportation & Mobility

This guide provides a framework to increase safe and equitable access to parks and green spaces. It focuses on access to parks via active transportation as well as ensuring a high-quality, safe experience within the park itself. The guide includes recommendations to help local decisionmakers...

The Power of Parks to Promote Health

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2023

Level City or Town, County

State(s) All States

Source The Trust for Public Land

Policy Areas Community Development, Health, Public Spaces

Parks and natural spaces promote mental, physical, and environmental wellbeing, and many parks departments are leveraging parks and recreational resources to improve health outcomes. This report outlines the benefits of preserving access to parks and green spaces and provides policy...

The Excellent City Park System: What Makes it Great and How to Get There

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2013

Level City or Town, County

State(s) All States

Source The Trust for Public Land

Policy Areas Community Development, Economic Justice, Public Spaces

This report outlines best practices for effective park development and recommends that cities take inventory of their land assets, prioritize park safety and equity, and regularly engage with the public. It also highlights case studies that have implemented successful park development...

Green Roofing

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2020

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Sustainable Development Code

Policy Areas Democracy & Governance, Environment & Natural Resources, Public Spaces

Cities can use their zoning codes to mandate sustainable development practices like green roofing, which promotes heat absorption, increases stormwater filtration, and provides recreational opportunities. This policy brief outlines how municipalities have leveraged incentives like...

A Short Guide to Setting Up a City-Scale Retrofit Program

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2009

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Center on Wisconsin Strategy, Green for All

Policy Areas Energy, Environment & Natural Resources

This policy brief explains how local governments can design and implement retrofitting and/or renovation programs that make homes more energy efficient. It also presents strategies for capturing financial savings from retrofits, creating high-quality green jobs, and ensuring that...

Complete Parks Playbook

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2018

Level City or Town, County

State(s) All States, Pennsylvania, Texas

Source ChangeLab Solutions

Policy Areas Education, Environment & Natural Resources, Health, Public Spaces

Parks enhance communities by promoting physical, mental, and social health. This guide outlines the 'complete parks approach', which helps local governments promote parks improvements by engaging communities who have historically been overlooked during parks planning discussions,...

Generating and Prioritizing Funding for Active Transportation

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2020

Level City or Town, County

State(s) All States

Source Safe Routes to School National Partnership

Policy Areas Public Spaces, Transportation & Mobility

Transportation plays a critical role in the health and economic development of a metropolitan area. When people have the ability to walk, bike, or take transit safely to a destination, the whole region benefits from healthier people, better air quality, and reduced traffic fatalities....

Purchase of Development Rights

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2018

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Sustainable Development Code

Policy Areas Community Development, Democracy & Governance, Environment & Natural Resources, Public Spaces

Local governments prevent environmentally damaging land development by developing purchase of development rights (PDR) programs. PDR programs enable landowners to sell the development rights of their land to a trust while keeping ownership and use. This brief outlines best practices...

Local Sustainability: A menu of policy options greening communities

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2011

Level City or Town, County, City or Town

State(s) Ohio

Source Policy Matters Ohio

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Economic Justice, Civil Rights, Energy

This policy brief provides an overview of "The Oberlin Project," a partnership between the City of Oberlin and Oberlin College exemplifying energy, waste, transit, industrial, and workforce development policies designed for sustainable economic growth. Among a variety of interventions...

Local Technical Assistance Toolkit: Energy Efficiency in Water and Wastewater Facilities

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2011

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

Policy Areas Energy, Community Development, Public Spaces, Environment & Natural Resources, Economic Justice

This toolkit recommends local governments improve the efficiency of their water facilities by requiring energy audits, updating regulations on equipment management, and providing financial incentives for energy-efficient projects. It also includes links to relevant resources and features...

Leveraging Catastrophe Bonds: As a Mechanism for Resilient Infrastructure Project Finance

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2017

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Re:Focus Partners

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Community Development

Often the most cost-effective solutions to disaster risk are the ones available to communities prior to a disaster to protect against a loss occurring in the first place. Yet cities around the world are struggling to fund even basic infrastructure projects, let alone more complex...

2018 Pierce County Resolution R2018-39s2 Recommending an Update to the County Coordinated Water System

Type Ordinance or Resolution

Year 2018

Level City or Town, County

State(s) Washington

Source Pierce County

Policy Areas Democracy & Governance, Environment & Natural Resources, Public Spaces

This resolution outlines membership and responsibilities of the county Water Utility Coordinating Committee which oversees the Coordinated Water System Plan (CWSP). The committee's voting members include county officials and representatives from water purveyors with over 50 service...

Elizabeth City Parks and Recreation Department Comprehensive Master Plan

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2016

Level City or Town, County

State(s) North Carolina

Source Elizabeth City/Pasquotank County Parks and Recreation Department

Policy Areas Community Development, Democracy & Governance, Public Spaces

Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County consolidated their parks departments which reduced costs but maintained quality facilities and services. This report provides an overview of how major changes that followed the merger helped improve community access to sports complexes, and recommends...

2012 San Francisco Ordinance 162-12 Establishing an Urban Agriculture Program

Type Ordinance or Resolution

Year 2012

Level City or Town

State(s) California

Source City of San Francisco

Policy Areas Community Development, Public Spaces, Democracy & Governance, Economic Justice, Environment & Natural Resources, Food

This ordinance establishes land and buildings as different classes of property and establishes a procedure to tax building values at lower rates than land values. It also ensures availability of full public information regarding assessments and appeal procedures; ensure that shifts...

A Guide for Public-Sector Resilience Bond Sponsorship

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2017

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Re:Focus Partners

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Community Development

Governments are typically “insurers of last resort.” When disaster strikes, vulnerable communities turn to government agencies for support and recovery assistance. More recently, as the frequency and severity of different types of disasters have grown, the gap between insured losses...

Leveraging Catastrophe Bonds As a Mechanism for Resilient Infrastructure Project Finance

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2015

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Re:Focus Partners

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Energy, Transportation & Mobility, Democracy & Governance

This paper offers a new approach for systematically linking catastrophe bonds and conventional project finance to support large-scale resilience projects. The following sections describe the RE.bound Program framework for catastrophe modeling, bond structuring, and bond sponsorship;...

Comparative Research on Funding Tools and Financing Mechanisms for Economic Development

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2009

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Futureworks

Policy Areas Energy, Environment & Natural Resources

This report examines economic development funding tactics and innovations in sustainability strategies among 11 major U.S. cities. It highlights the relationship between environmental sustainability and regional economic development, identifies new sustainability tools, and highlights...

Urban Water Conservation Policies in the United States

Type Act or Session Law

Year 2018

Level City or Town, State

State(s) All States

Source Advancing Earth and Space Sciences

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Public Safety

As urban water supply systems confront growing populations, growing economies, and climatic stress, water conservation efforts are necessary to ensure sustainable access to water. This report examines water conservation policies from 195 cities and finds that cities' political leanings...

Integrating Valuation Methods to Recognize Green Infrastructure's Multiple Benefits

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2010

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Center for Neighborhood Technology

Policy Areas Energy, Environment & Natural Resources

This report outlines the environmental and economic benefits associated with different types of green infrastructure, including urban forests, permeable pavement, water harvesting technology, green roofs, and infiltration practices like rain gardens, bioswales, and constructed wetlands....

2019 San Francisco Ordinance 74-19 Benchmarking Energy Usage

Type Ordinance or Resolution

Year 2019

Level City or Town, County

State(s) California

Source City and County of San Francisco

Policy Areas Data & Technology, Energy

The ordinance requires owners of certain residential and non-residential buildings to track and report their energy usage to San Francisco's Department of the Environment. In turn, the Department of the Environment will make this data available to the public. ...

The Power of Parks to Address Climate Change

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2022

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source The Trust for Public Land

Policy Areas Economic Justice, Environment & Natural Resources, Public Spaces

Parks and green spaces reduce air temperatures and absorb floodwater, making them vital resources in mitigating the effects of climate change. This report outlines how cities are supporting park services and promoting natural spaces to lower urban temperatures, manage stormwater,...

Green Space: An Underestimated Tool to Create More Equal Cities

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2020

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source World Resources Institute

Policy Areas Civil Rights, Economic Justice, Environment & Natural Resources, Public Spaces

Improving access to urban green spaces can promote equity in health, safety, and climate resilience. This report outlines how access to quality green spaces like public parks and athletic fields is often linked to wealth and examines how local governments can improve green space equity...

2016 San Francisco Ordinance 160222 Prohibiting Leasing for the Extraction of Fossil Fuels

Type Ordinance or Resolution

Year 2016

Level City or Town, County

State(s) California

Source City and County of San Francisco

Policy Areas Energy, Environment & Natural Resources

This ordinance prohibits the city and county from entering into or extending leases that allow for the extraction of fossil fuels on city-owned or controlled land. It also requires the Director of Property to inspect these properties to ensure that any current or former lessee complies...

District of Columbia Green Building Act of 2006

Type Ordinance or Resolution

Year 2006

Level City or Town

State(s) District of Columbia

Source District of Columbia City Council

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources

This act establishes energy efficient and environmentally sustainable building standards for new construction and an incentives program to promote sustainable building practices across the city. Incentives include expedited document review, grants to offset costs related to sustainable...

Economic Benefits of Parks

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2011

Level City or Town, County, State

State(s) All States, Pennsylvania

Source We Conserve PA

Policy Areas Community Development, Economic Justice, Environment & Natural Resources, Public Spaces

This guide examines economic impact studies of public parks, and finds parks provide many economic benefits to their surrounding communities, including increased property values, increased tax revenues, decreased medical costs due to recreational opportunities, and decreased stormwater...

ProGov21 Policy Library

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