Green on Buildings: The Effects of Municipal Policy on Green Building Designations in America's Central Cities

Abstract

This study quantitatively examines the effect of municipal policies on commercial green office building designations. Many states and cities have adopted green building requirements and incentives as policy instruments. This study conducts an OLS regression analysis using American central cities as a unit of analysis and codes municipal green building regulations and incentives for separate dummy variables. The findings reveal that municipal regulatory policy has been a strong tool to promote green office building designations as expected, but incentive-based policies have not been effective except for administrative incentives.