Once the epicenter of America’s manufacturing prowess, Pittsburgh has undergone decades of transformation as it shifted from its role as the center of the U.S. steel industry to what is now home to one of the leading technology clusters in North America. But in addition to software, biotech and robotics, Pittsburgh has also become one of the leading green building laboratories within the U.S.
Pittsburgh’s legacy of corporate philanthropy was also a factor in the city’s green building boom. One example is seed funding from The Heinz Endowments, which in part allowed the Green Building Alliance to become one of the first nonprofits in the United States to focus on retrofitting a region’s commercial building sector so that more of its space could become more sustainable. The support from Heinz sparked many public, private, and nonprofit partnerships that positioned Pittsburgh as a leader of this movement. In 2000, three of the first 13 LEED certified buildings were in Pittsburgh; by 2005, Pittsburgh had more certified green buildings by number and square footage than any other city in America. Support from organizations such as the Richard King Mellon Foundation and The Pittsburgh Foundation have also worked with the city’s neighborhoods and buildings to become more sustainable in recent years.