Hey, that doesn’t look like the Schuylkill River. Pictured above is Rio de Janeiro, Philadelphia’s sister city in the U.S.-Brazil Joint Initiative on Urban Sustainability (JIUS). Visit this brand-new website for the full story on the JIUS—the short version is that President Obama and President Rousseff created the JIUS last year to help cities implement sustainable infrastructure through public-private partnerships. To explain it in terms of Philadelphia’s Green City, Clean Waters plan:
For example, green stormwater infrastructure systems typically consist of hundreds of small projects, including street trees, green roofs, and repaved roads, among other investments. Even though these systems are often cheaper to build than standard pipes and treatment systems, they are also more difficult for cities to finance with traditional mechanisms. By bringing together federal, state, and local government officials with corporate, financial, academic, and community leaders from Rio de Janeiro and Philadelphia—two cities leading the transition to sustainable infrastructure—JIUS participants identified multiple opportunities for scaling-up investment in urban sustainability.
The JIUS site highlights Green City, Clean Waters (including projects at Nebinger Elementary School and the Big Green Block) as well as Brazil’s National Solid Waste Policy. The website is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in how sustainable infrastructure is being funded and how policy is written in two cities nearly 5,000 miles apart.
