Capabilities

Sustainable City Planning

Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
– Brundtland Report by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987

One of the most important environmental challenges for the 21^st century entails helping cities reduce their ecological footprint and improve their capacity to provide a high quality of life for residents. Mapping Sustainability helps urban areas develop and implement plans to solve their most pressing problems including: poor air quality, heat island effects, water shortages, water pollution, and public health concerns such as asthma.

Mapping Sustainability has developed a GIS-based Sustainability Accounting System (GSAS), which is an asset management and environmental accounting methodology that is used for planning sustainable solutions for your municipality. Our GSAS methodology provides mapping and scientific results that help policy makers or advocacy groups perform cost/benefit analysis for assessing alternative management practices. GSAS methodology has been used for managing street trees as a city’s environmental asset, assessing cost and benefits of stormwater management practices, and estimating the value of urban parks.

Our Sustainable City Planning services include using our GIS-based Sustainability Accounting System for:

• Tree Inventories
• Urban Forest Cover & Benefits Assessment
• Setting Urban Tree Canopy Goals
• Urban Tree Canopy Implementation Plans
• Impervious Surface Assessment
• Multi-modal transportation studies
• Hazard Mitigation

Partnerships:

Mapping Sustainability is a member of Boston’s Urban Forest Coalition (BUFC) http://www.bostonforest.org — an organization that aims to improve Boston’s urban forest ecosystem, public health, and quality of life for its residents.

Professional Affiliation:

Mapping Sustainability is a member of the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) http://www.cnu.org — an organization that stands to reconfigure sprawling suburbs into communities of real neighborhoods and diverse districts, conserve natural environments, and preserve our built legacy.

Capabilities

• Public Health
• Environmental Planning & Assessment
• Sustainable City Planning
• Hazard Mitigation Planning
• GIS Process Management
• Muncipal GIS

Learn More

• Our Work:
  • Urban Forest Sustainability Accounting System
  • Tree Inventory