BERNICE WONG

Green Metropolis is a book by David Owen about how world cities should aim to be like New York in order to become more sustainable. I found this an interesting concept, as a the most populated city in the USA which boasts Wall Street, Broadway, lavishness and consumption is probably not where I would start while looking for models of sustainable living.

Nevertheless, it is the extreme density of living and the city’s street plan which make it one of the least energy consuming places to live.  Owen’s first points are that Living Smaller, Living Closer and Driving Less are the key components to increasing a city’s sustainability. He states “Manhattan’s street plan was created by merchants who were more interested in economic efficiency than in boulevards, parks or empty spaces between buildings. The resulting crush of architecture is actually humanizing because it brings the city’s commercial, cultural and other offerings closer together, thereby increasing their accessibility.”

This means that because there are so many businesses, services, activities on every street corner in NYC, people never have to go very far to satisfy their needs. Average living space is also smaller (less heating/electricity), and the extreme density of people means that it’s actually faster to walk from point A to B that it is to drive. As well, because the apartment buildings are so big and close together, neighbouring buildings use heat escaping from one building to heat the next.

And it turns out, this convenience actually makes quite an impact on sustainability:

• 82% of New Yorkers use public transit, biking or walking as their primary mode of transportation
• In comparison, the average American walks about 18% of the time, but only 8% as their primary mode of transportation (i.e. the 18% includes situations where they are walking to the bus stop or walking to their car)
• 0.9% is the average number of cyclers in the USA
• The average Manhattanite uses gas at levels comparable to American energy use in the 1920s.

So interestingly enough, the average individual living in New York is doing more for the environment (in terms of energy consumption and GHG emissions, not in other areas) than someone living in a small town