As Cleveland considers how to transform from Rust Belt to Green Belt, it is grappling with questions like, how to deliver services to a smaller population and deal with economic and environmental issues? We have Re-imagining a More Sustainable Cleveland. Led by the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative and Neighborhood Planning, Inc., it's one of the more innovative approaches to how and where to apply sustainability to vacant land— whether its urban farming or greener stormwater capture. We also have a burgeoning effort by the city of Cleveland to plan for stormwater zones.

Being a shrinking city is an opportunity for Cleveland to adopt successful sustainability practices proven in other cities. Old ways of approaching the problem of aging infrastructure are just too costly. In Portland, the Green Streets program is an award-winning approach to activate treelawns and capture all of the stormwater before it ever hits the sewer. In Chicago, the city is replacing 13,000 aging alleyways with its Green Alleys. Since the alleys are not connected to the sewer system, the city found it more cost effective to apply a new technology that will filter water slowly back into the ground.

With the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District moving ahead with its plans to establish a stormwater authority, we need to prepare the region with answers to the question: What approaches to green urbanism should Cleveland and Northeast Ohio consider?