SustainLane 2006 US City Sustainability Ranking
Mesa: Surviving the Desert Boom
Most people would never guess that Mesa has more residents than household-name cities like Miami, Minneapolis, and Honolulu. Nor would most venture that Mesa is home to more Mormons than any other city (it was founded by a Mormon leader in 1877).
Unfortunately, the city gets low marks across most of the sustainability categories we analyzed: #32 in commuting, #35 in planning, and #34 in tap water quality. Mesa's sprawled, suburban character results from a bedroom-community approach-there's no historically defined city center and the town lacks urban planning approaches that other fast-growing cities are finding necessary to cope with their challenges.
Now that Mesa has become a large city, city officials and citizens have an opportunity to work together to address the problems generated by rapid development: traffic congestion (#30), deteriorating air quality, and the need for better public transit and land use planning. Increasing access to local food and providing incentives for green building could be woven into improvements in transit, zoning, and land use. The development of more public parks would enable people to stay local, rather than getting in their cars to enjoy the desert air outside of town.
