We often talk about the benefits of density, the efficiency of cities, where you can do more while using less energy. Fast Company magazine says "For all the challenges cities face--congestion, crime, crumbling infrastructure, environmental decay, plus occasional issues with basic civility--they are still where jobs and youth gather, where energy begets even greater energy, where talent masses and collides."In a world where we can now work anywhere, we're tending to concentrate in fewer and fewer places," says Carol Colletta, president of CEOs for Cities, an advocacy group. "Smart people are choosing to live near smart people."

The four green leaders are Chicago (Second to whom? Mayor Richard Daley has overseen a downtown renaissance and the planting of 500,000 new trees), Stockholm (Home to almost 2,500 green-sector companies and powered by the research output of its Karolinska, Beijer, and IVL institutes, Stockholm is the fuel cell under the hood of a country that aims to be oil-free by 2010.), Portland, Oregon (Three decades ago, Portland became a case study on how to stuff sprawl when it enacted strict limits on urban growth.) and Vancouver, Canada.(The dual goal: to build sustainable neighborhoods with the scale to make green energy technologies affordable and to preserve surrounding forest and mountain ecosystems.) ::Fast Company

Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:

• Urban Design After the Age of Oil: Notes from Day 1
• Urban Design After the Age of Oil
• Will the Next New Deal be Transit-Based? Three Plans to Rescue the Economy and the Earth with Public Transportation
• Sustainability’s Success

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