OECD Territorial Reviews: The Chicago Tri-State Metropolitan Area, United States 2012
The OECD Territorial Review of the Chicago Tri-State metropolitan area, the first of its kind conducted by the OECD in the United States, assesses the region’s capacity to contribute effectively to regional and national economic performance and quality of life. The Review focuses on four thematic policy issues: i) the effectiveness and coordination of workforce development programmes in the Chicago Tri-State metro-region; ii) the metro-region’s capacity for innovation; iii) its role as a major centre for logistics in North America; and (iv) its capacity to encourage green growth over the long term. The review also focuses on the state of region-wide institutional collaboration and offers a vision for effective tri-state region-wide stakeholder engagement.
Increasing the tri-state region's competitiveness through green growth
This chapter focuses on the Tri-State Region’s green growth potential. Green jobs are growing in the region, particularly in building related activities and transportation. The region has also become specialised in professional energy services, air and water purification technologies, lighting, and green architecture and construction services. Sustainable financing mechanisms are needed for energy efficiency retrofits and energy audits to build the region’s green architecture and construction sectors. The public transit system is facing a severe funding shortage; congestion charges and value-capture taxes should be considered to address the issue. Changing water and waste fees across the region to better reflect consumption and cost of service delivery would encourage conservation and recycling while generating additional sources of revenue.