Sustainable DC
Washington DC
Completed 2013
Washington DC
Completed 2013
District of Columbia urban sustainability policy vision & plan for 2032
Sustainable DC is an ongoing public planning and policy project to make Washington DC “the healthiest, greenest, and most livable city in the United States, [and] a model of innovative policies and practices that improve quality of life and economic opportunity.” It was developed collaboratively between citizen groups and the District government, and was guided by the District’s Office of Planning and Department of the Environment (now the District Department of Energy & Environment).
The consulting support for the Sustainable DC Plan, which was first released in 2013, included: benchmarking DC’s performance against progressive cities around the world, using ambitious reference metrics for carbon emissions, water quality, social equity, transit, solid waste, access to nature and to healthy food, and other key concerns; engaging a wide social, economic, and institutional cross-section of the DC population for views on improving the city; identifying effective environmental, equity, resilience, and governance strategies that the District had yet to adopt, and key parties to lead in adopting them; and developing this thorough data and analysis into a branded, published plan for specific, scheduled, and sustained action, legislation, and follow-up.
In 2019, the District published Sustainable DC 2.0, noting substantial progress made from 2013-2018, and updating the plan's Goals, Targets, and Actions for the next five years.