September 24, 2024 • 21 mins
How can city planners join in the fight against climate change? Join us as we discuss the American Planning Association's Climate Change Policy Guide. We'll dissect the significance of federal funding under the Biden administration, explore the pressing need for ongoing advocacy in transitioning to clean energy, and ponder the future of regulatory rulemaking following the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo. Shifting gears to state and local initiatives, we'll spotlight the climate policy efforts in Nebraska and Lincoln, emphasizing the critical importance of coordination between governments, accountability measures, and best practice frameworks for success. Tune in for a comprehensive discussion on building resilient and sustainable communities through forward-thinking climate policies.
Show Notes:
- Check out the APA Climate Change Policy Guide at https://planning-org-uploaded-media.s3.amazonaws.com/publication/download_pdf/Climate-Change-Policy-Guide.pdf.
- To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Stephanie Rouse (00:00):
This episode is brought to you by RDG.
Rdg is comprised of architects,landscape architects, engineers
, artists and planners with apassion for design and a drive
to make a difference.
They believe in applying newways of thinking and innovative
approaches to the preparation ofplans that address community
and regional issues.
With offices in Omaha, nebraska, st Louis, missouri, denver,
(00:20):
colorado and Des Moines, iowa,they are a network of design and
planning professionalsdedicated to applying their
talents in extraordinary ways.
You're listening to the BookedOn Planning Podcast, a project
(00:42):
of the Nebraska chapter of theAmerican Planning Association.
In each episode, we dive intohow cities function by talking
with authors on housing,transportation and everything in
between.
Join us as we get Booked onPlanning.
Welcome back, bookworms, toanother episode of Booked on
(01:06):
Planning.
We're continuing theconversation on climate
resilience that was started withthe book Climate Resilience for
an Aging Nation and moving to adeeper dive into the American
Planning Association's ClimateChange Policy Guide, which was
adopted in 2020.
The document begins boldly bystating the issue plainly that
climate change is the mostconsequential worldwide
environmental event that humancivilization has to confront.
(01:27):
With this in mind, the policydocument is intended to help
formulate position statements,legislative recommendations and
other policy-based actions, andto recommend program funding at
the federal and state governmentlevels.
Jennifer Hiatt (01:40):
As we already know, the document states that
planners need to take the leadin helping to mitigate the
impacts of climate change andensure that our communities are
able to adapt to a changingclimate.
This is especially true oftransportation and land use
planning, since historically,climate change has been
exasperated by extensivetransportation projects required
because of sprawling land usedevelopment.
Stephanie Rouse (02:14):
The overall goal is for planners to work
with other private and publicorganizations to achieve a net
zero greenhouse gas emission by2050, as well as plan for the
negative effects of climatechange going forward, since we
already know that an adverseimpact to the planet has already
occurred.
Sustainable places, livablebuilt environment, harmony with
nature, resilient economy,interwoven equity, health
communities and responsibleregionalism and these policy
areas were actually discussed ina podcast episode from last
year when we interviewed some ofthe former APA staff that wrote
(02:36):
the book, so we'll link that inthe show notes.
Like the housing supplyaccelerator playbook that we
covered a few months back,readers don't need to read this
guide from start to finish, andinstead you can focus on areas
that really impact your work themost.
They also break the documentinto policies for federal and
state action and local action,so if you're a local planner,
you can skip to the section thatyou have most control over.
Jennifer Hiatt (02:58):
Planners should also be sure to read through
APA's hazard mitigation policyguide that was adopted in April
of 2020, the Housing Equity andSurface Transportation Policy
Guides each their own individualdocument also offer related
policies and guidance tocomplement this guide.
As always, climate response isa multifaceted problem and
should be considered throughevery lens possible to make sure
(03:19):
we aren't missing any elements.
Stephanie Rouse (03:21):
The plan leads off with three federal policies
and one state policy, each withtheir own subsets of action
items.
To achieve them, the Fed's roleis as the national leader and
advocate from climate changeaction.
When this document was draftedand then adopted in 2020, the
action items like advocate forfederal funding for climate
change planning and resiliencemeasures was needed, but with
the Biden administration, theytook these items to heart and
(03:44):
two years ago, signed thelandmark $391 billion climate
solutions investment bill, alsoknown as the Inflation Reduction
Act, which honestly, is justsuch an amazing bill.
Jennifer Hiatt (03:55):
Yeah, historic legislation Historic.
Although it is fantastic thatwe already have funding for
climate solution investments,that isn't where federal
advocacy ends, though, of course.
The guide points out that westill need to be advocating for
the development of clear andusefully scaled climate
information.
Strong US internationalleadership on climate change,
(04:17):
close cooperation among federal,state and local governments,
requiring climate analysis aspart of any regulatory decision
makingmaking, and common focusedgoals to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
Stephanie Rouse (04:27):
Transitioning to a clean energy economy hasn't
moved as much as federalfunding has, with many action
items facing more of an uphillbattle, like advocating for
carbon pricing strategies,stringent regulations of carbon
fuel products and carbon offsetprograms.
Instead, policies likeexpanding and improving the
brownfield program andsupporting changes to
agricultural policy and practiceare seeing some movement.
Jennifer Hiatt (04:50):
It is understandable that
transitioning away from fossilfuels is difficult I've
personally never yet met a humanwho just absolutely loves
change but it is possible tokeep pushing forward on a clean
energy economy.
Unfortunately, a lot of theserecommendations include creating
some kind of regulatory scheme,so it will actually be really
interesting to see how thefederal government moves forward
with regulatory rulemaking inlight of the US Supreme Court's
(05:11):
ruling in Loper BrightEnterprises v Raimondo.
I haven't actually heard ofthat.
The Raimondo case overruledwhat was formerly called the
Chevron Doctrine, which gaveregulatory agencies quite a bit
of power in rulemaking.
Basically, the Chevron Doctrinewas quite deferential to the
agencies making rules, and inthe Raimondo case the Supreme
Court basically stated that thatscheme was unconstitutional.
Stephanie Rouse (05:35):
So it'll make it easier to make some of these
rules.
Jennifer Hiatt (05:38):
No, it probably will make it harder.
Okay, yeah, so the idea behindRaimondo is that actually the
courts would be the best body tointerpret vague laws.
So you know, in the rulemakingsituation, congress passes a
bill and they think it's areally great bill, but then when
(05:59):
you start really trying toapply it, it kind of can be
vague or might need a littlemore nuanced understanding.
Apply it it kind of can bevague or might need a little
more nuanced understanding.
So often agencies are thepeople who do the promulgation
and rulemaking and under theRaimondo scheme, of course, we
haven't seen it move forward yet, so we're not really sure what
it'll look like, but someanalysts think that it'll be
mostly courts interpreting vaguelaw without the expertise that
(06:21):
is often behind agenciesInteresting.
Stephanie Rouse (06:23):
So as a former transportation planner, but
still very much an advocate atheart, I would love to see the
federal action item to develop asustainable federal
transportation agenda realized.
Funding mass transit, low-costsustainability mobility
solutions and moving performancemeasures away from favoring
capacity enhancements wouldreally go a long way.
This administration has reallypushed for the clean energy of
(06:45):
transportation systems with lotsof EV bills, but more support
for EVs is not the only wayforward in this environment.
Jennifer Hiatt (06:52):
Once a transportation planner, always a
transportation planner, even ifyou've crossed the dark side.
I'd really love to see thesupport for adopting a national
building energy performancerating system.
We here in Lincoln have a netzero ready building coming
online and then that utilizedthe tax increment financing to
support the elevated energyperformance systems, but even
(07:13):
then it really wasn'teconomically feasible for the
developer to get to full netzero.
It would be nice to see somemore national support, both
regulatory and financial, fornet zero buildings.
Stephanie Rouse (07:23):
Yes, that would go a long way and we actually
have an episode coming up on howto get buildings closer to net
zero, so stay tuned for thatnext month.
Last up on the federal policy,docket is advocating for state
climate change plans, policies,programs and projects.
It referenced only Californiaand New York as state leaders
for climate action.
Jennifer Hiatt (07:43):
However, now we have 45 states DC, puerto Rico
that have all released climateaction plans and we are proud to
say that Nebraska is one ofthose 45 states, and Lincoln has
adopted its own climate actionplan.
The first step in making surethese plans are effective is
advocating for closecoordination between state and
local governments.
Accountability mechanisms aswell as framework for best
(08:04):
practices should be developed.
Stephanie Rouse (08:05):
So section two is all about livable built
environment policies, which isthe heart of what we, as the
planning profession, work on dayto day.
It includes multimodaltransportation, transit-oriented
development, coordinatingregional transit investments
with job clusters, creatinggreen and complete streets
serving multiple functions,mixed land use patterns that
create walkable communities,promoting infill development,
(08:27):
green building design and energyconservation, reusing historic
resources and not developing inhazardous areas, requiring
resilient development andinfrastructure, investing in
smart infrastructure andproviding accessible public
facilities and spaces.
So that was a lot, and there isa ton to dive into here, which
in our short episode we're onlygoing to hit the highlights
(08:47):
Really.
Jennifer Hiatt (08:48):
basically, they cover the classics, but they're
classics for a reason.
Even though we know this iswhat makes for good planning and
design, we often do not succeedin implementing these
requirements for a variety ofreasons.
As a profession, we need tocontinue advocating for these
principles.
Stephanie Rouse (09:02):
One of the more unique action items was
adoption of equity-based urbandesign guidelines.
The goal is to enhancemixed-use and accessible spaces,
wrapping a few other goals intothis one, without displacing
existing residents.
This includes focusing on itemslike the appropriate building
scale and massing of open space,good streetscape and safety
(09:22):
enhancements to encouragewalking and biking.
A lot of the items, though,were already underway in most
communities, or seem to be morestandard city planning elements
in recent years.
With dozens of ideas, though,not all are being done in every
community, leaving room for someimprovement in the planning
department.
Jennifer Hiatt (09:40):
It really fits in with the gentrification
conversations we've been havingin our last set of episodes, and
one of the recommendations thatI've really been digging into
in Lincoln recently is parkingrevisions.
Of course, any Shubhanistaknows that reducing parking
requirements has been around fora while, but the guide also
mentions parking and pricing,and I was surprised it left out.
(10:01):
Curb management, though.
We are finding as I'm sure manyother communities are right now
that are digging into it thatreconsidering how we prioritize
curb space is having almost asbig of an impact on how people
move through our downtown asreducing parking requirements.
Stephanie Rouse (10:15):
So harmony with nature is the second theme, one
that's becoming more and moreapparent as a needed approach.
I've heard so many examples ofcommunities returning to natural
ways to handle coastal flooding, rather than building levees
that have failed time and again.
As the article states, theEarth's natural ecosystems not
only sequester carbon, theysupport the hydraulical cycle
and reduce flooding, regulatetemperature and support every
(10:37):
living thing, including plants,bacteria, animals and humans,
collectively referred to asbiodiversity.
Jennifer Hiatt (10:43):
And we've talked about before on the podcast how
important it is to design withnature it's like literally our
second episode and protect andrestore natural capital.
I thought the recommendation toprotect important natural
assets as carbon sinks wasreally interesting.
We know that part of ourcurrent carbon problem is that
we are releasing ancient carbonback into the atmosphere by
(11:03):
burning fossil fuel anddestroying old growth forests,
and that we need to reduce oreliminate our penchant for doing
so.
But I was also intrigued by theconcept of preserving
productive agricultural soilsand supporting soil conservation
practices as part of thateffort to maintain a carbon sink
.
We are farm people in Nebraska.
You normally think aboutfarming as one of the larger
carbon footprint industries, soit's really neat to think about
(11:25):
the ways that we can reduce oreliminate farming's impacts on
the climate.
Stephanie Rouse (11:29):
Yeah, here in Nebraska there's a really strong
regenerative ag movement.
That I think is reallyinteresting.
That can help support some ofthese policy goals.
Actions under the Harmony withNature policy include policies
to reduce greenhouse gasemissions, restore and protect
environmentally sensitive areas,provide and protect a green
infrastructure network, protectgreen stormwater management,
(11:49):
advocate for policies to improveand protect air quality,
advocate for climate changeadaptation, promote soil waste
reduction, encourage waterconservation and plan for a
lasting water supply, protectand manage streams, watersheds
and floodplains.
Some states do this better thanothers, but I feel like most
have some of these items intheir focus area.
Minnesota, I think, is a greatexample of a state where so many
(12:11):
communities and their watersheddistricts are making a positive
change in this area.
When I lived there, I was partof a master water stewards
program that taught individualsjust people in the community
that were interested in thesubject about stormwater
management treatments and how tosupport many of the concepts in
the section, and then you did alittle project at the end of it
like a rain garden that youwould maintain over the years.
I would love to see this modelreplicated in other states to
(12:34):
expand the volunteer efforts topromote these policies.
Jennifer Hiatt (12:41):
That would be really awesome.
It would be great if thosepolicies and that kind of
program could be brought here.
Nebraska has such amazingnatural resources and we really
aren't protecting them very well.
I also appreciated thereconnecting natural system
strategy.
I have actually personally beenthinking a lot about this ever
since our accidental ecosystemepisode, especially every time I
go home and drive on Interstate80.
There's just so manyopportunities to like reconnect
some of our natural systems, ourstreams and our wildlife in
(13:02):
that area.
I know we've talked a lot aboutthis, but reducing impervious
surface and using nature-baseddesign principles at the very
least our new buildings wouldalso be great.
Stephanie Rouse (13:13):
A resilient economy incorporates the idea of
return, making it circularrather than linear,
incorporating the total economiccost of production that factors
in social and environmentalcosts.
Under this policy, communitiesshould ensure economic
development is attuned toclimate strategies, while
maximizing economic benefit toall through items like promoting
a circular economy, moredensity, brownfield
(13:34):
redevelopment, also promotinggreen collar jobs and regional
clean energy strategiessomething that's a major battle,
depending on where you're doingthis, as Nebraska knows all too
well requiring resourceefficient economic development.
Advocating for community basedeconomic development, providing
climate ready infrastructurecapacity planning for post
disaster economic recoverysomething that's no longer an
(13:57):
option that everyone should bedoing and linking regional food
systems and conservation toeconomic resiliency plans.
Jennifer Hiatt (14:05):
The guide acknowledges that we need to
account for the full costs ofthe economy, which isn't
something that I think most ofus are currently excelling at.
We can do better by using thelifecycle analysis tools when
analyzing economic developmentprospects.
I was thinking about how wecould potentially use this tool
to analyze some of ourredevelopment projects.
Make sure we're betterleveraging our incentive-based
tools for our climate futures.
(14:25):
That's, yeah, a reallyinteresting idea.
Really was making me thinkabout it was capturing some of
our negative externalities fromsome of our larger buildings
that we're doing downtown andtrying to package that all and
make sure we're capturing it andmaking sure the developer is
dealing with those externalities, as opposed to the community.
Stephanie Rouse (14:41):
Yeah, One of the action items is to promote
partnerships, which here inLincoln we do really well.
Our city and our electric powerprovider are working together
on a heat pump program, withgrants and loans to incentivize
their installation.
In our community we also have aClimate Smart Collaborative
that includes the city, thecounty, the school district, the
University of Nebraska and ourelectric company, who meet
(15:03):
regularly to coordinate onmaking positive strides towards
climate action using sharedresources and knowledge.
One example is when we were alltrying to convert our fleets to
electric vehicles also duringthe after effects of COVID, and
trying to get any sort ofvehicles.
Each group kind of shared theirown tips on how they were able
to source different vehicles orfind funding for them.
Jennifer Hiatt (15:24):
One action item I would like to see Lincoln
implement more of isdecentralizing our energy
distribution.
After our storms last month,our linemen did an amazing job
of responding to the power linesthat were down, but we still
had power outages in some areasfor days.
So this would include adiversity of power options,
primarily implementing morerenewables into the system with
(15:44):
shorter transmission lines andsmaller distribution areas.
With shorter transmission linesand smaller distribution areas,
a community that candecentralize their power source
has less of a chance forlong-term adverse effects from a
power outage.
I know everyone in my innercircle was talking about
investing in solar after ourpower went out for hours last
time.
Stephanie Rouse (16:00):
Interwoven equity is founded on the basis
that we should dedicateourselves to the fair treatment
of all members of thecommunities that we serve.
It's especially important inthe realm of climate change
policy, as climate changeimpacts are disproportionately
impacting low-income andminority populations,
exacerbating current issues.
The idea of interwoven equityis that equity consideration
should be baked into all actionsand decisions to create a
(16:22):
fabric of climate change policywith equity woven in the policy.
Items in this section arealmost repeats of earlier ones,
with a focus on underservedcommunities.
For example, we alreadymentioned creating multimodal
communities, but the policy inthis section focuses on
connecting underservedcommunities to these types of
networks.
The same goes for affordablehousing, green infrastructure
(16:43):
and utility systems.
The last two policies are morespecific to the section, which
are create policies and programsthat support an section, which
are create policies and programsthat support an equitable,
resilient economy and mitigateclimate change health and safety
risks to vulnerable populationgroups.
Jennifer Hiatt (16:57):
This was actually my favorite section.
We know that disadvantagedcommunities will be the first to
feel the adverse impacts ofclimate change, so focusing on
equity just makes sense.
I'm particularly passionateabout one of the action items
under creating policies andprograms that support equitable,
resilient economy, which wasfolding vocational, educational
and other local trainingprograms into climate readiness
(17:19):
initiatives to foster employmentopportunities in the growing
greenhouse, green housing andrenewable energy not greenhouse
industries.
I'm from a more rural part ofthe state and so many of my high
school classmates reallyweren't interested in the
traditional program that mostuniversities are geared toward.
They were more vocational, butat the time that wasn't as
highly valued as a universitydegree.
(17:40):
So I think it's reallyimportant to promote vocational
programs as an excellent way tomake a living, and coupling that
with climate focus is just Idon't know probably a good idea.
Stephanie Rouse (17:48):
Yeah, a lot of the action items under the
climate ready, affordablehousing section are focused on
supporting the development of it, but one that Lincoln is
dipping its toes in is to assurethat affordable housing is
built or renovated to be energyefficient.
We're working with our energyprovider to try to install solar
panels on the roof of our newpermanent supportive housing
project, breaking ground thisfall.
Jennifer Hiatt (18:09):
Another action item listed here that you will
hear more about in an upcomingepisode is promoting local
building insulation andweatherization programs to
reduce heating and cooling costsand, of course, lower the
carbon footprint of the building.
Stephanie Rouse (18:21):
So the shortest section of the document is
healthy communities, which isimpacted by air quality,
temperature extremes,precipitation extremes,
vector-borne diseases,temperature extremes,
precipitation extremes,vector-borne diseases, food
security and mental health.
Ways to address these negativeoutcomes is through planning for
the social determinants ofhealth, planning for all stages
of natural disasters andcreating a health equity and
climate lens for planningprocesses.
(18:42):
I feel like this section isshorter because a lot of the
action items in other sectionswill naturally lead to these
healthy outcomes, like a safermultimodal transportation system
will get residents out usingother modes of travel,
increasing their physical healthand helping to reduce pollution
from more vehicles on the road.
Jennifer Hiatt (18:59):
I agree.
That's probably why it was alittle shorter, but there were
still some great action itemsfor planners listed, such as
building closer relationshipswith public health professionals
, like Danielle talked about inour Climate Resilience for an
Aging Nation episode.
Making sure components of theplanning process and
implementation focus on healthycommunities and supporting
policies and linking publichealth and planning at the
(19:19):
federal, state and local level.
Stephanie Rouse (19:22):
Yeah, we had more of a focus in the
profession a few years ago withthe Planners for Health movement
and trying to do morepartnerships with the health
profession.
So I think that's somethingthat we could kind of strengthen
again and revive a little bit.
Jennifer Hiatt (19:33):
Yeah, even shout out to our alma mater who added
a sub degree in public healththrough our planning program.
Stephanie Rouse (19:39):
Yes, yeah, that'll be exciting.
I think we have one studentalready enrolled.
Responsible Regionalism roundsout the document, which takes
planning at a regional scale fortransportation, housing,
economic development, naturalenvironments, equity and social
cultural frameworks and appliesa more coordinated
interdependence betweencommunities and the region as a
whole.
This is often done throughmetropolitan planning
(20:01):
organizations, and the MetCouncil in the Twin Cities metro
area does a really great job ofthis.
All communities in theirjurisdiction have to engage
their neighbors as they'repreparing their comprehensive
plans and, similar to othersections, this one expands on
earlier policies like regionaltransportation options, regional
green infrastructure andconnecting local and regional
(20:21):
housing initiatives.
Jennifer Hiatt (20:23):
I do think that sometimes we can focus a little
too much on what we are doing inour cities and we forget that
we are also creating regionalimpacts, so it was a really good
reminder to round out thedocument.
We hope that you enjoyed thisconversation on the American
Planning Association ClimateChange Policy Guide.
Remember to subscribe to theshow wherever you listen to
podcasts and please rate, reviewand share the show.
(20:43):
Thank you for listening andwe'll talk to you next time on
Booked on Planning you.
This episode is brought to you by RDG.
Rdg is comprised of architects,landscape architects, engineers
, artists and planners with apassion for design and a drive
to make a difference.
They believe in applying newways of thinking and innovative
approaches to the preparation ofplans that address community
and regional issues.
With offices in Omaha, nebraska, st Louis, missouri, denver,
(00:20):
colorado and Des Moines, iowa,they are a network of design and
planning professionalsdedicated to applying their
talents in extraordinary ways.
You're listening to the BookedOn Planning Podcast, a project
(00:42):
of the Nebraska chapter of theAmerican Planning Association.
In each episode, we dive intohow cities function by talking
with authors on housing,transportation and everything in
between.
Join us as we get Booked onPlanning.
Welcome back, bookworms, toanother episode of Booked on
(01:06):
Planning.
We're continuing theconversation on climate
resilience that was started withthe book Climate Resilience for
an Aging Nation and moving to adeeper dive into the American
Planning Association's ClimateChange Policy Guide, which was
adopted in 2020.
The document begins boldly bystating the issue plainly that
climate change is the mostconsequential worldwide
environmental event that humancivilization has to confront.
(01:27):
With this in mind, the policydocument is intended to help
formulate position statements,legislative recommendations and
other policy-based actions, andto recommend program funding at
the federal and state governmentlevels.
Jennifer Hiatt (01:40):
As we already know, the document states that
planners need to take the leadin helping to mitigate the
impacts of climate change andensure that our communities are
able to adapt to a changingclimate.
This is especially true oftransportation and land use
planning, since historically,climate change has been
exasperated by extensivetransportation projects required
because of sprawling land usedevelopment.
Stephanie Rouse (02:14):
The overall goal is for planners to work
with other private and publicorganizations to achieve a net
zero greenhouse gas emission by2050, as well as plan for the
negative effects of climatechange going forward, since we
already know that an adverseimpact to the planet has already
occurred.
Sustainable places, livablebuilt environment, harmony with
nature, resilient economy,interwoven equity, health
communities and responsibleregionalism and these policy
areas were actually discussed ina podcast episode from last
year when we interviewed some ofthe former APA staff that wrote
(02:36):
the book, so we'll link that inthe show notes.
Like the housing supplyaccelerator playbook that we
covered a few months back,readers don't need to read this
guide from start to finish, andinstead you can focus on areas
that really impact your work themost.
They also break the documentinto policies for federal and
state action and local action,so if you're a local planner,
you can skip to the section thatyou have most control over.
Jennifer Hiatt (02:58):
Planners should also be sure to read through
APA's hazard mitigation policyguide that was adopted in April
of 2020, the Housing Equity andSurface Transportation Policy
Guides each their own individualdocument also offer related
policies and guidance tocomplement this guide.
As always, climate response isa multifaceted problem and
should be considered throughevery lens possible to make sure
(03:19):
we aren't missing any elements.
Stephanie Rouse (03:21):
The plan leads off with three federal policies
and one state policy, each withtheir own subsets of action
items.
To achieve them, the Fed's roleis as the national leader and
advocate from climate changeaction.
When this document was draftedand then adopted in 2020, the
action items like advocate forfederal funding for climate
change planning and resiliencemeasures was needed, but with
the Biden administration, theytook these items to heart and
(03:44):
two years ago, signed thelandmark $391 billion climate
solutions investment bill, alsoknown as the Inflation Reduction
Act, which honestly, is justsuch an amazing bill.
Jennifer Hiatt (03:55):
Yeah, historic legislation Historic.
Although it is fantastic thatwe already have funding for
climate solution investments,that isn't where federal
advocacy ends, though, of course.
The guide points out that westill need to be advocating for
the development of clear andusefully scaled climate
information.
Strong US internationalleadership on climate change,
(04:17):
close cooperation among federal,state and local governments,
requiring climate analysis aspart of any regulatory decision
makingmaking, and common focusedgoals to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
Stephanie Rouse (04:27):
Transitioning to a clean energy economy hasn't
moved as much as federalfunding has, with many action
items facing more of an uphillbattle, like advocating for
carbon pricing strategies,stringent regulations of carbon
fuel products and carbon offsetprograms.
Instead, policies likeexpanding and improving the
brownfield program andsupporting changes to
agricultural policy and practiceare seeing some movement.
Jennifer Hiatt (04:50):
It is understandable that
transitioning away from fossilfuels is difficult I've
personally never yet met a humanwho just absolutely loves
change but it is possible tokeep pushing forward on a clean
energy economy.
Unfortunately, a lot of theserecommendations include creating
some kind of regulatory scheme,so it will actually be really
interesting to see how thefederal government moves forward
with regulatory rulemaking inlight of the US Supreme Court's
(05:11):
ruling in Loper BrightEnterprises v Raimondo.
I haven't actually heard ofthat.
The Raimondo case overruledwhat was formerly called the
Chevron Doctrine, which gaveregulatory agencies quite a bit
of power in rulemaking.
Basically, the Chevron Doctrinewas quite deferential to the
agencies making rules, and inthe Raimondo case the Supreme
Court basically stated that thatscheme was unconstitutional.
Stephanie Rouse (05:35):
So it'll make it easier to make some of these
rules.
Jennifer Hiatt (05:38):
No, it probably will make it harder.
Okay, yeah, so the idea behindRaimondo is that actually the
courts would be the best body tointerpret vague laws.
So you know, in the rulemakingsituation, congress passes a
bill and they think it's areally great bill, but then when
(05:59):
you start really trying toapply it, it kind of can be
vague or might need a littlemore nuanced understanding.
Apply it it kind of can bevague or might need a little
more nuanced understanding.
So often agencies are thepeople who do the promulgation
and rulemaking and under theRaimondo scheme, of course, we
haven't seen it move forward yet, so we're not really sure what
it'll look like, but someanalysts think that it'll be
mostly courts interpreting vaguelaw without the expertise that
(06:21):
is often behind agenciesInteresting.
Stephanie Rouse (06:23):
So as a former transportation planner, but
still very much an advocate atheart, I would love to see the
federal action item to develop asustainable federal
transportation agenda realized.
Funding mass transit, low-costsustainability mobility
solutions and moving performancemeasures away from favoring
capacity enhancements wouldreally go a long way.
This administration has reallypushed for the clean energy of
(06:45):
transportation systems with lotsof EV bills, but more support
for EVs is not the only wayforward in this environment.
Jennifer Hiatt (06:52):
Once a transportation planner, always a
transportation planner, even ifyou've crossed the dark side.
I'd really love to see thesupport for adopting a national
building energy performancerating system.
We here in Lincoln have a netzero ready building coming
online and then that utilizedthe tax increment financing to
support the elevated energyperformance systems, but even
(07:13):
then it really wasn'teconomically feasible for the
developer to get to full netzero.
It would be nice to see somemore national support, both
regulatory and financial, fornet zero buildings.
Stephanie Rouse (07:23):
Yes, that would go a long way and we actually
have an episode coming up on howto get buildings closer to net
zero, so stay tuned for thatnext month.
Last up on the federal policy,docket is advocating for state
climate change plans, policies,programs and projects.
It referenced only Californiaand New York as state leaders
for climate action.
Jennifer Hiatt (07:43):
However, now we have 45 states DC, puerto Rico
that have all released climateaction plans and we are proud to
say that Nebraska is one ofthose 45 states, and Lincoln has
adopted its own climate actionplan.
The first step in making surethese plans are effective is
advocating for closecoordination between state and
local governments.
Accountability mechanisms aswell as framework for best
(08:04):
practices should be developed.
Stephanie Rouse (08:05):
So section two is all about livable built
environment policies, which isthe heart of what we, as the
planning profession, work on dayto day.
It includes multimodaltransportation, transit-oriented
development, coordinatingregional transit investments
with job clusters, creatinggreen and complete streets
serving multiple functions,mixed land use patterns that
create walkable communities,promoting infill development,
(08:27):
green building design and energyconservation, reusing historic
resources and not developing inhazardous areas, requiring
resilient development andinfrastructure, investing in
smart infrastructure andproviding accessible public
facilities and spaces.
So that was a lot, and there isa ton to dive into here, which
in our short episode we're onlygoing to hit the highlights
(08:47):
Really.
Jennifer Hiatt (08:48):
basically, they cover the classics, but they're
classics for a reason.
Even though we know this iswhat makes for good planning and
design, we often do not succeedin implementing these
requirements for a variety ofreasons.
As a profession, we need tocontinue advocating for these
principles.
Stephanie Rouse (09:02):
One of the more unique action items was
adoption of equity-based urbandesign guidelines.
The goal is to enhancemixed-use and accessible spaces,
wrapping a few other goals intothis one, without displacing
existing residents.
This includes focusing on itemslike the appropriate building
scale and massing of open space,good streetscape and safety
(09:22):
enhancements to encouragewalking and biking.
A lot of the items, though,were already underway in most
communities, or seem to be morestandard city planning elements
in recent years.
With dozens of ideas, though,not all are being done in every
community, leaving room for someimprovement in the planning
department.
Jennifer Hiatt (09:40):
It really fits in with the gentrification
conversations we've been havingin our last set of episodes, and
one of the recommendations thatI've really been digging into
in Lincoln recently is parkingrevisions.
Of course, any Shubhanistaknows that reducing parking
requirements has been around fora while, but the guide also
mentions parking and pricing,and I was surprised it left out.
(10:01):
Curb management, though.
We are finding as I'm sure manyother communities are right now
that are digging into it thatreconsidering how we prioritize
curb space is having almost asbig of an impact on how people
move through our downtown asreducing parking requirements.
Stephanie Rouse (10:15):
So harmony with nature is the second theme, one
that's becoming more and moreapparent as a needed approach.
I've heard so many examples ofcommunities returning to natural
ways to handle coastal flooding, rather than building levees
that have failed time and again.
As the article states, theEarth's natural ecosystems not
only sequester carbon, theysupport the hydraulical cycle
and reduce flooding, regulatetemperature and support every
(10:37):
living thing, including plants,bacteria, animals and humans,
collectively referred to asbiodiversity.
Jennifer Hiatt (10:43):
And we've talked about before on the podcast how
important it is to design withnature it's like literally our
second episode and protect andrestore natural capital.
I thought the recommendation toprotect important natural
assets as carbon sinks wasreally interesting.
We know that part of ourcurrent carbon problem is that
we are releasing ancient carbonback into the atmosphere by
(11:03):
burning fossil fuel anddestroying old growth forests,
and that we need to reduce oreliminate our penchant for doing
so.
But I was also intrigued by theconcept of preserving
productive agricultural soilsand supporting soil conservation
practices as part of thateffort to maintain a carbon sink
.
We are farm people in Nebraska.
You normally think aboutfarming as one of the larger
carbon footprint industries, soit's really neat to think about
(11:25):
the ways that we can reduce oreliminate farming's impacts on
the climate.
Stephanie Rouse (11:29):
Yeah, here in Nebraska there's a really strong
regenerative ag movement.
That I think is reallyinteresting.
That can help support some ofthese policy goals.
Actions under the Harmony withNature policy include policies
to reduce greenhouse gasemissions, restore and protect
environmentally sensitive areas,provide and protect a green
infrastructure network, protectgreen stormwater management,
(11:49):
advocate for policies to improveand protect air quality,
advocate for climate changeadaptation, promote soil waste
reduction, encourage waterconservation and plan for a
lasting water supply, protectand manage streams, watersheds
and floodplains.
Some states do this better thanothers, but I feel like most
have some of these items intheir focus area.
Minnesota, I think, is a greatexample of a state where so many
(12:11):
communities and their watersheddistricts are making a positive
change in this area.
When I lived there, I was partof a master water stewards
program that taught individualsjust people in the community
that were interested in thesubject about stormwater
management treatments and how tosupport many of the concepts in
the section, and then you did alittle project at the end of it
like a rain garden that youwould maintain over the years.
I would love to see this modelreplicated in other states to
(12:34):
expand the volunteer efforts topromote these policies.
Jennifer Hiatt (12:41):
That would be really awesome.
It would be great if thosepolicies and that kind of
program could be brought here.
Nebraska has such amazingnatural resources and we really
aren't protecting them very well.
I also appreciated thereconnecting natural system
strategy.
I have actually personally beenthinking a lot about this ever
since our accidental ecosystemepisode, especially every time I
go home and drive on Interstate80.
There's just so manyopportunities to like reconnect
some of our natural systems, ourstreams and our wildlife in
(13:02):
that area.
I know we've talked a lot aboutthis, but reducing impervious
surface and using nature-baseddesign principles at the very
least our new buildings wouldalso be great.
Stephanie Rouse (13:13):
A resilient economy incorporates the idea of
return, making it circularrather than linear,
incorporating the total economiccost of production that factors
in social and environmentalcosts.
Under this policy, communitiesshould ensure economic
development is attuned toclimate strategies, while
maximizing economic benefit toall through items like promoting
a circular economy, moredensity, brownfield
(13:34):
redevelopment, also promotinggreen collar jobs and regional
clean energy strategiessomething that's a major battle,
depending on where you're doingthis, as Nebraska knows all too
well requiring resourceefficient economic development.
Advocating for community basedeconomic development, providing
climate ready infrastructurecapacity planning for post
disaster economic recoverysomething that's no longer an
(13:57):
option that everyone should bedoing and linking regional food
systems and conservation toeconomic resiliency plans.
Jennifer Hiatt (14:05):
The guide acknowledges that we need to
account for the full costs ofthe economy, which isn't
something that I think most ofus are currently excelling at.
We can do better by using thelifecycle analysis tools when
analyzing economic developmentprospects.
I was thinking about how wecould potentially use this tool
to analyze some of ourredevelopment projects.
Make sure we're betterleveraging our incentive-based
tools for our climate futures.
(14:25):
That's, yeah, a reallyinteresting idea.
Really was making me thinkabout it was capturing some of
our negative externalities fromsome of our larger buildings
that we're doing downtown andtrying to package that all and
make sure we're capturing it andmaking sure the developer is
dealing with those externalities, as opposed to the community.
Stephanie Rouse (14:41):
Yeah, One of the action items is to promote
partnerships, which here inLincoln we do really well.
Our city and our electric powerprovider are working together
on a heat pump program, withgrants and loans to incentivize
their installation.
In our community we also have aClimate Smart Collaborative
that includes the city, thecounty, the school district, the
University of Nebraska and ourelectric company, who meet
(15:03):
regularly to coordinate onmaking positive strides towards
climate action using sharedresources and knowledge.
One example is when we were alltrying to convert our fleets to
electric vehicles also duringthe after effects of COVID, and
trying to get any sort ofvehicles.
Each group kind of shared theirown tips on how they were able
to source different vehicles orfind funding for them.
Jennifer Hiatt (15:24):
One action item I would like to see Lincoln
implement more of isdecentralizing our energy
distribution.
After our storms last month,our linemen did an amazing job
of responding to the power linesthat were down, but we still
had power outages in some areasfor days.
So this would include adiversity of power options,
primarily implementing morerenewables into the system with
(15:44):
shorter transmission lines andsmaller distribution areas.
With shorter transmission linesand smaller distribution areas,
a community that candecentralize their power source
has less of a chance forlong-term adverse effects from a
power outage.
I know everyone in my innercircle was talking about
investing in solar after ourpower went out for hours last
time.
Stephanie Rouse (16:00):
Interwoven equity is founded on the basis
that we should dedicateourselves to the fair treatment
of all members of thecommunities that we serve.
It's especially important inthe realm of climate change
policy, as climate changeimpacts are disproportionately
impacting low-income andminority populations,
exacerbating current issues.
The idea of interwoven equityis that equity consideration
should be baked into all actionsand decisions to create a
(16:22):
fabric of climate change policywith equity woven in the policy.
Items in this section arealmost repeats of earlier ones,
with a focus on underservedcommunities.
For example, we alreadymentioned creating multimodal
communities, but the policy inthis section focuses on
connecting underservedcommunities to these types of
networks.
The same goes for affordablehousing, green infrastructure
(16:43):
and utility systems.
The last two policies are morespecific to the section, which
are create policies and programsthat support an section, which
are create policies and programsthat support an equitable,
resilient economy and mitigateclimate change health and safety
risks to vulnerable populationgroups.
Jennifer Hiatt (16:57):
This was actually my favorite section.
We know that disadvantagedcommunities will be the first to
feel the adverse impacts ofclimate change, so focusing on
equity just makes sense.
I'm particularly passionateabout one of the action items
under creating policies andprograms that support equitable,
resilient economy, which wasfolding vocational, educational
and other local trainingprograms into climate readiness
(17:19):
initiatives to foster employmentopportunities in the growing
greenhouse, green housing andrenewable energy not greenhouse
industries.
I'm from a more rural part ofthe state and so many of my high
school classmates reallyweren't interested in the
traditional program that mostuniversities are geared toward.
They were more vocational, butat the time that wasn't as
highly valued as a universitydegree.
(17:40):
So I think it's reallyimportant to promote vocational
programs as an excellent way tomake a living, and coupling that
with climate focus is just Idon't know probably a good idea.
Stephanie Rouse (17:48):
Yeah, a lot of the action items under the
climate ready, affordablehousing section are focused on
supporting the development of it, but one that Lincoln is
dipping its toes in is to assurethat affordable housing is
built or renovated to be energyefficient.
We're working with our energyprovider to try to install solar
panels on the roof of our newpermanent supportive housing
project, breaking ground thisfall.
Jennifer Hiatt (18:09):
Another action item listed here that you will
hear more about in an upcomingepisode is promoting local
building insulation andweatherization programs to
reduce heating and cooling costsand, of course, lower the
carbon footprint of the building.
Stephanie Rouse (18:21):
So the shortest section of the document is
healthy communities, which isimpacted by air quality,
temperature extremes,precipitation extremes,
vector-borne diseases,temperature extremes,
precipitation extremes,vector-borne diseases, food
security and mental health.
Ways to address these negativeoutcomes is through planning for
the social determinants ofhealth, planning for all stages
of natural disasters andcreating a health equity and
climate lens for planningprocesses.
(18:42):
I feel like this section isshorter because a lot of the
action items in other sectionswill naturally lead to these
healthy outcomes, like a safermultimodal transportation system
will get residents out usingother modes of travel,
increasing their physical healthand helping to reduce pollution
from more vehicles on the road.
Jennifer Hiatt (18:59):
I agree.
That's probably why it was alittle shorter, but there were
still some great action itemsfor planners listed, such as
building closer relationshipswith public health professionals
, like Danielle talked about inour Climate Resilience for an
Aging Nation episode.
Making sure components of theplanning process and
implementation focus on healthycommunities and supporting
policies and linking publichealth and planning at the
(19:19):
federal, state and local level.
Stephanie Rouse (19:22):
Yeah, we had more of a focus in the
profession a few years ago withthe Planners for Health movement
and trying to do morepartnerships with the health
profession.
So I think that's somethingthat we could kind of strengthen
again and revive a little bit.
Jennifer Hiatt (19:33):
Yeah, even shout out to our alma mater who added
a sub degree in public healththrough our planning program.
Stephanie Rouse (19:39):
Yes, yeah, that'll be exciting.
I think we have one studentalready enrolled.
Responsible Regionalism roundsout the document, which takes
planning at a regional scale fortransportation, housing,
economic development, naturalenvironments, equity and social
cultural frameworks and appliesa more coordinated
interdependence betweencommunities and the region as a
whole.
This is often done throughmetropolitan planning
(20:01):
organizations, and the MetCouncil in the Twin Cities metro
area does a really great job ofthis.
All communities in theirjurisdiction have to engage
their neighbors as they'repreparing their comprehensive
plans and, similar to othersections, this one expands on
earlier policies like regionaltransportation options, regional
green infrastructure andconnecting local and regional
(20:21):
housing initiatives.
Jennifer Hiatt (20:23):
I do think that sometimes we can focus a little
too much on what we are doing inour cities and we forget that
we are also creating regionalimpacts, so it was a really good
reminder to round out thedocument.
We hope that you enjoyed thisconversation on the American
Planning Association ClimateChange Policy Guide.
Remember to subscribe to theshow wherever you listen to
podcasts and please rate, reviewand share the show.
(20:43):
Thank you for listening andwe'll talk to you next time on
Booked on Planning you.
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