Community-based organisations in city environmental policy regimes: lessons from Philadelphia

Abstract

In this paper we examine the role of community-based organisations (CBOs) in the environmental policy regime of Philadelphia, through a citywide survey (N = 40) and interviews with leaders from three types of CBOs: community development corporations (CDCs), civic associations (CAs), and business-improvement organisations. We found that CBOs of all types have changed their organisational missions and identities in response to their pursuit of sustainability goals, but that CDCs more so than either CAs or business organisations have integrated sustainability into their governance structures. Second, we found that a growing number of CBOs have expanded their work to involve environmental policy and programming. Third, we found that the work of local non-profit organisations has become directly linked to the city's broader sustainability plan, Greenworks.

Keywords:

• environmental policy regime
• community-based organisations
• sustainability planning
• Philadelphia

Notes

1. The SustainLane rankings reflect the most widely known and sophisticated ranking of 16 different sustainability activities and outcomes of the 50 most populous American cities. As Saha (2009, p. 43) notes of value of the SustainLane dataset, “Instead of focusing only on local adoption initiatives, these data take into consideration cities’ actual performance on a range of sustainability initiatives and allow for a comparative evaluation of city sustainability efforts”. The top 10 cities for in the 2008 rankings were: Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, New York,  Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Oakland, Baltimore (Karlenzig et al. 2007, pp. 1–18, Saha 2009)

2. The city recently underwent a major revision to its zoning code. The code specifies that “registered community organisations” (RCOs) must be notified of proposed projects. The proposed code defines an RCO as an organisation “whose geographic area of concern is a neighborhood. Its registered geographic boundaries shall meet the geographic area set forth in the group's articles of incorporation, bylaws, or other governing documents” (Sec. 12a.2.a).