"... we have developed a plan that can become a model for cities in the 21st century."

- PlaNYC 2030

Portland

Portland's current program for sustainability sets up a framework for action for city officials through its sustainability principles and simultaneously encourages residents take an active role in living sustainably through the provision of resources. While for Portland this has been enough to achieve some measure of sustainability, more can be done to achieve the same boldness and proactivity of the 1988 Central City Plan.

New York City

In sum, PlaNYC suggests many actions toward a more sustainable New York City and provides a significant framework for implementation. Compared to Portland, the plan itself is comparable politically, but its suggestions could use greater clarity and depth. PlaNYC makes a notable effort at holistic sustainability planning through its identification of cross-cutting initiatives, but fails to carry that knowledge one step further to the actual integration of initiatives. Lastly, while Portland has guiding principles that hold beyond the term of each elected official, New York City has yet to set up such a framework that would hold any future mayors accountable to sustainability.

In light of the planning successes in Portland, this study has identified points that may raise concerns as well as points of success in the New York plan, but ultimately, only time will tell whether New York City's PlaNYC will really be successful and truly become a model for other cities seeking to become more sustainable as PlaNYC already boasts.

Final Questions

• Do we, as planners, need to wait for the politics to fall in line for us to successfully implement a plan? Everything has a cultural and political backdrop, and it is important for planners to recognize the opportunity points to achieve important goals. Portland had the window of opportunity for achieving sustainability given it's political, environmental and cultural history. Do we have to wait for a cultural shifts and opportunity windows to take action, or can planning be strategized differently to create our own windows of opportunity as needed?
• How do should we react if global warming actually happens to a catastrophic level? Have we done enough to plan for the effects of climate change beyond simply planning to mitigate further global warming? How should we as planners help our cities adapt for a different future climate?
• Successful people are strategic thinkers, usually operating within some larger goals or vision, whether they articulate it or not. Similarly, Portland has used its sustainability principles as a framework to guide action through time.  Sometimes the details of long-term planning are not possible and are perhaps not reasonable even, but a framework is useful and possibly more capable of evolving with time.  Frameworks are require fewer specifics as they are the skeleton within which the details fit and thus, can be more easily agreed upon, especially where cost bearers are not yet identified. So, how comprehensive should we be?  How long term can we plan politically?
• How does one capture the imagination of a city to drive the implementation of a plan? Is a strong media strategy effective?  Or is it something deeper needed like what Portlanders have with their deep connection to nature and a desire to preserve that nature?
• Can we plan for sustainability differently today from what Portland did because of the cultural shift due to global warming?
• Can we approach sustainability as a system to be more comprehensive and holistic? 
• Global warming is a problem at such a large scale. How do we grapple with these large-scale problems as just a small part of the whole? How do the efforts of an individual city fit into the larger international community?