The Urban Sustainability Forum is more than just a monthly series of presentations featuring the best local, national and international experts in many different fields which influence the direction of sustainability efforts in our city and nation. Beyond that, it is a place where people gather, exchange information, and network–all with the goal of making Philadelphia the greenest, most livable and most sustainable city in America.
Urban Sustainability Forum events are free and open to the public, and are generally held during the evening on the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Academy of Natural Sciences. You can view a listing of upcoming and past Urban Sustainability Forums and all Town Square events.
The Forum has helped bring some of the most exciting speakers and events Philadelphia has seen in a long time, such as Van Jones, the leader of the green collar job movement in Oakland, California – recently recruited by the Obama Administration to be Obama’s Green Jobs Adviser. The world’s most sustainable mayor, Jaime Lerner from Brazil also made an appearance - encouraging creativity, innovation, and problem solving to a packed-auditorium. In addition, the Forum brought together the Democratic candidates for mayor at Philadelphia’s first Mayoral forum of the primary season, as well as a post-primary forum to explore how the candidates would make Philadelphia a more sustainable city.
Join us as we work to develop a vision and a plan for a sustainable Philadelphia!
The Urban Sustainability Forum is a collaboration of many organizations, including:
10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania
Academy of Natural Sciences
Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia
Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture)
City Parks Association
Community Design Collaborative
City of Philadelphia
Clean Air Council
Community Design Collaborative
Delaware Valley Green Building Council
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
Drexel University
Energy Coordinating Agency
GRID Magazine
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Pennsylvania Environmental Council
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Philadelphia Park Alliance
Philadelphia University
Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education
Sierra Club
Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia
Temple University, Ambler
University of Pennsylvania
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III
