LEED for Cities: How to Certify Your Community

This presentation introduces LEED for Cities, a nationally recognized framework that equips planners with clear criteria and a data-driven process to evaluate and shape citywide policy, results, and trends. Gain practical understanding of the certification process - eligibility, application, data collection, and review - and how to adapt those steps to strengthen local planning practice.

Presenters highlight tools and methods for cross-department collaboration, performance tracking, and community engagement, demonstrating how planners can align diverse partners around shared sustainability goals. From real-world examples, and specifically Gainesville, Florida, learn strategies for overcoming challenges such as data gaps, organizational silos, and resource constraints. In the 2024-25 cohort, Gainesville was the only city to complete the application and certification fully in-house, relying on a cross-departmental team rather than outside consultants. That work culminated in a Gold LEED for Cities certification, demonstrating local staff's capacity to achieve excellence with limited resources.

Core team leaders present the Gainesville experience firsthand and answer questions. The presentation emphasizes how certification outcomes can be leveraged beyond recognition - integrating results into planning and budgeting, identifying funding opportunities, and shaping inclusive community initiatives - thereby ensuring planning efforts are measurable, transparent, equitable, and accountable.
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