Vancouver’s green-conscious crowd may be glad to know that the city takes the bronze spot for sustainability when stacked against 23 North American cities – that’s according to a Sustainable Cities Mobility Index released by a global environmental consulting company.
Arcadis’ Marc Lumpkin said Vancouver’s strengths include a well-maintained transit system and high ridership, lower air pollution and transportation investment compared to other cities.
The company used three indicators to rank cities’ sustainability: people, planet and profit.
“People” measured social and human implications of mobility systems, including quality of life.
“Planet” considered environmental impacts, including pollution and emissions
“Profit,” meanwhile focused on the efficiency and reliability of a mobility system to facilitate economic growth.
Vancouver ranked seventh in people, ninth in planet and number one in profit, making it number three in North America.
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But no city is perfect, and Vancouver has its shortfalls, said Lumpkin.
“There are fewer people biking or walking to work in Vancouver than many other cities; the transportation is less available early in the morning or late overnight; the peak hour congestion brings down the city’s environmental score, and the proportion of green space ranks below many European cities,” he said.
New York took the top sustainability spot within North America.
When compared to 100 cities worldwide, Vancouver took the 28th spot – Hong Kong came out on top.
No North American city made it into the top 20 cities in the global index.