Roosevelt Island

New York City-based policy makers and green advocates often strike a self-congratulatory tone when recounting how the city is already the greenest in the U.S. thanks to strong population density, good public transit, and limited car ownership by New Yorkers. Yet, ask New Yorkers whether they enjoy living in such close proximity to their neighbors and whether they appreciate the high costs of monthly parking that make car ownership prohibitive and it readily becomes apparent that the policy wonks are describing a situation that has little do with sustainability and even less to do with concerns for quality of life. Now, if New York City’s policy makers were to make their claims about the city’s leadership role as the center of urban sustainability and green innovation based on the entrepreneurial activities underway here, their claims would ring significantly less hollow and would in fact be true. For it is here that green residential building demonstrates in the largest numbers the possibilities for leading outrageously cool lifestyles that are aligned with a cleaner planet.