28 Sep Smart and Sustainable Solutions at the City Scale
[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_single_image image="22800" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="22802" border_color="grey" img_link_target="_self" img_size="full"][vc_separator type="transparent" position="center" up="30"][vc_column_text] Mayor Eric Garcetti City of Los Angeles, California [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] [dropcaps type='normal' color='' background_color='' border_color='']W[/dropcaps]hen it comes to sustainability, the bigger the city, the bolder the goal in its scale—but also the more important and influential when achieved. If Los Angeles, a metropolis of 4 million people and 503 square miles, with the third-largest metropolitan GDP on Earth can become sustainable, so can any other city and town. Los Angeles has been a hub of green building activity for many years. As early as 2002, when I first served on the City Council, we became the first big city to require virtually all new municipal buildings to be LEED-certified. In 2009, we raised the minimum standard to LEED Silver. But our most impactful achievement was using the public sector to show that green construction had arrived. As Council president in 2007, I championed legislation to accelerate the greening of L.A.’s private sector buildings. We adopted the city’s first Green Building Program, which required large, new construction or major renovations to meet LEED standards. As our city’s public sector led its private sector on green construction, so the...