Green Hub@MIT
Our Vision
To meet the challenges of the 21st century will require a dramatic acceleration in the pace,
scale and ambition for change. The two most pressing challenges of our times---the
poverty and exclusion of the world’s majority, and the calamity of climate change---point
to a need for a profound realignment of our economies, our societies and our sense of
human purpose. It is not impossible that we can meet the challenges before us. We
have within our reach the knowledge, resources and technologies required.
Cities represent a key locus where a momentum for large-scale change can be generated.
As home to over 50% of the world’s population, 50% of the world’s poor, and over 75%
of the world’s energy use and green house gas emissions, cities will be key to addressing
the challenges of climate change and poverty reduction. Cities present a political context
in which diverse social and economic interests can unite around a common agenda,
where innovation can be quickly tested, adapted and brought to scale, and where local
level change can set a pace and standard for wider change across nations and regions.
A movement is already underway to “green” cities that calls for fundamental shifts in the
way people organize urban life. Massive public expenditure, new investments in “green”
technology and the emergence of carbon markets creates the potential for new forms of
enterprise and innovation in poor communities. This fundamental economic shift—--if
directed to goals of social inclusion and equity--- could fulfill the unfinished promise of
social inclusion for poor and minority people as set out in the American New Deal, the
UN’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the Millennium Development Goals.
The potential is great, and yet
there is little capacity to deeply The goal of "green transformation" is to
address issues of equity and leverage the emerging “green” economy to
create more inclusive and vibrant societies
inclusion
within
current based on environmental stewardship and
environmental
and
urban community regeneration.
regeneration efforts.
Approaches that reach across sectors and build deep levels of trust, collaboration and
collective innovation are needed. We are calling this work "green transformation" as it
aims to fundamentally shift economic and social relations linked to achievement of the
urgent agenda of reversing climate change and bridging social and economic divides. The
goal of "green transformation" is to leverage the emerging “green” economy --- the new
value being generated around clean energy, energy efficiency, and carbon reductions--- to
create more inclusive and vibrant societies based on environmental stewardship and
community regeneration. Green transformation is not only desirable as a moral choice,
but also required. The huge challenges of reversing climate change will simply not be
achievable if poor communities are not part of the political consensus required to move
forward.
Our Purpose
The Green Hub @ MIT supports cities in their efforts to make the transition to a low
carbon future through processes of inclusion and wealth generation with poor
communities. The Green Hub supports this work by:
 Facilitating a process of analysis and creative development among a
group of influential people and organizations in each location that leads
to concrete initiatives.
 Leveraging support and resourcing for these initiatives through MIT and
the Hub’s partner organisations.
 Capturing and sharing learning on both the initiatives themselves, and the
"social technology" behind them---how different interest groups come
together to transform their cities.
Who We Are
The Green Hub is a consortium of organizations that collectively hold this agenda,
contributing with their particular knowledge and resources, and drawing from the
experiences of the Green Hub to generate value in their own organizations and sectors.
Philanthropy
Oxfam
Business
Green
Hub
SEIU
Presencing Institute
Investment Co.
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) provides the institutional
platform for the Green Hub and is a key partner, bringing MIT’s extensive knowledge
and professional base to the work of global cities, and offering the experience of global
cities as an applied learning laboratory for students, researchers and innovators. The
Green Hub is housed by the Community Innovators Lab (Co-Lab) in MIT’s
Department of Urban Studies and Planning, working in collaboration with the Sloan
School of Management, and drawing from other MIT Academic Centers and
Departments to access specialist knowledge and resources. Co-Lab will support a
network of project managers and facilitators working in locations across the US and
globally.
The Presencing Institute supports the work of the Green Hub through leadership
development and cross-sectoral innovation. PI will support the work of cities with
training and support to key leaders and catalysts at the local level who are facilitating
processes of consensus building and initiative development.
Green Hub@MIT
Oxfam GB brings its global networks and experience in campaigning and development
to facilitate work with cities in the global south. Oxfam will support local initiatives with
identification of local partners, seed funding to initiative development, and facilitation of
links to resources required to get initiatives off the ground.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) brings a commitment to linking the
agenda of organized workers to the agenda of green transformation and will leverage a
global network of trade unions to the work of the Green Hub.
The Green Hub also includes partners from the Investment, Business and
Philanthropy communities which bring their knowledge and networks relating to the
development of new models of financing and enterprise. These seats are rotating among
representatives of these communities who share an interest and commitment to the
agenda of green transformation.
Green Transformation in Action
What if….
 The central district of Sao Paulo were reclaimed as a vibrant ecovillage creating affordable housing, new enterprise and public space
that gave young people a safe and productive place to grow up?
 Pension funds were invested in the retrofitting of millions of homes
for energy efficiency and job creation in New York and Los Angeles?
 Banda Aceh, once levelled by the tsunami, became a model of urban
and regional green development, creating employment through
reforestation, recycling and clean energy?
 Health workers in South Africa redesigned the public transport
system so millions of public employees were guaranteed a safe,
reliable and zero carbon way to work?
How We Work
The Green Hub works as a network, with a facilitating capacity based at MIT, and
networked Hubs in each of the cities where there is Green Hub collaboration. The goal
is to support cross-sectoral networks in each location that bring together key leaders and
innovators to collaborate on large-scale initiatives for green transformation. Initiatives
come to the Hub through a number of sources---through Hub partners, directly from
city governments, or from social organizations working on urban regeneration and
poverty reduction.
Green Hub@MIT
The Hub supports this work through a network of Facilitators---individuals who work
from these locations and who are highly skilled in convening cross-sectoral dialogue and
innovation. Each location will also be supported by an Initiative Coordinator at Co-Lab,
MIT---a person who serves as a bridge between local efforts and the resources of Hub
partners.
The Hub is working toward a model of securing a core investment fund/endowment
that covers the pre-development costs of local initiatives. Once groups have reached a
point of agenda setting, the goal is to develop investment models whereby Hub costs are
included as part of enterprise development. For example, an investment in establishing
decentralized combined heating and cooling systems in a major city would include costs
for the social processes that achieve the political consensus required, as well as the costs
of technology investment. Ultimately, we believe that the work of the Green Hub will
allow cities and investors to gain efficiencies by reducing the political blockages to major
project development, and increasing the value generated in greening efforts by engaging
the widest number of people.
Getting Involved
The Green Hub is a new initiative and in 2008 is defining processes in a number of
locations. Discussions have begun in: New York, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, Sao
Paolo, Port au Prince, Banda Aceh, Dakar. Additionally, the Green Hub is building a
network of learning partners---organizations and locations where there is interest in
sharing experience, but where there may not be immediate conditions to engage in an
intensive process of cross-sectoral collaboration through the Green Hub. Learning
partners may include: London, Boston, and Charleston in the US, and internationally
with Delhi, India and Dongtan, China, and Kampala, Uganda.
We are currently in a stage of scoping and development and are interested to hear what
others are doing, where there is potential for collaboration, and how others see the
Green Hub as helpful to their work. For further information or input to this project:
bbuell@mit.edu.
Green Hub@MIT