Cities: New York - the big apple turns green

New York Times Square Subway Station. Photo / Sam Eichblatt

The big apple is no longer rosy red but gaining a greenish hue instead...

As one of the developed world's densest cities, New York is usually well ahead of the pack in divining shifts in our evolving common attitude to sustainability - or creating them. With smaller distances to travel and apartment blocks that share heating, dense urban living is often more sustainable by default. And, testament to the profusion of creative and talented people it attracts from all over the world, NYC constantly generates ways to make urban life more liveable, exciting and dynamic.
These are five of our favourite New York stories:

The food
The mini-empire that owns back-to-basics eatery Diner, wood-panelled Oyster Bar, Marlow & Sons next door (above), and Roman's, an Italian joint in Fort Greene, is representative of many in the city in its approach to seasonal, locally sourced products. Just up the road, the group's traditional butchery, Marlow & Daughters, also sells grass-fed, locally sourced meat. marlowandsons.com??

The urban farm
Brooklyn's 560sqm Eagle Street Rooftop Farm capitalises on a large, unused stretch of space atop one of industrial Greenpoint's warehouse buildings to lend new meaning to "locally sourced ingredients" - it runs its own farmers market, and its organically produced vegetables are bicycled to nearby restaurants. An official Community Supported Agriculture Programme, Eagle Street is also partnered with the food education organisation Growing Chefs, which runs programmes to connect people to their food "from field to fork". rooftopfarms.org/ and growingchefs.org/

The large-scale public projects
Since the opening of its first section in 2009, the High Line Park has proved to be both an architectural and design triumph and an accessible drawcard for New Yorkers and visitors alike. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, it turned an unused, historic elevated freight rail line into a roughly mile-long public park running from the Meatpacking District through Chelsea to West 30th Street. Aside from the striking planting programme, which used hardy plants that had already seeded and were growing naturally on the old tracks, another rare pleasure of walking the Highline is the glimpse it gives you into Manhattan's rooftop world.

Plans are also afoot for stage three, which hopes to secure a further stretch of the track at the West Rail Yards for the park. thehighline.org

Three urban design entrepreneurs have now also begun proposals to create a "low line" in an old trolley terminal on the Lower East Side. Official name, Delancey Underground, their idea is to channel sunlight through fibre-optic cables. Renderings can be seen at: www.nymag.com/news/intelligencer/the-low-line-2011-9/

The transport
Bicycles, shared car schemes, buses or the subway - New Yorkers have a range of low-cost and carbon-efficient alternatives to traversing their city. The subway hardly counts as a new project, but recent years have seen it cleaned up and made safer and more efficient.

Even Brooklyn's G-line, notorious just 15 years ago, is now a breeze. Compared to other large cities, it's relatively cheap at US$2.25 a trip and better still, runs 24 hours a day.

Above ground, the city is remarkably bicycle-friendly, with around 260km of dedicated cycle lanes and many "greenways", or bicycle and walking tracks through narrow urban parks connecting neighbourhoods. Every year, the city council publishes a detailed, updated map for all five boroughs. nycbikemaps.com

The architecture practice
Based in the Brooklyn arts precinct of DUMBO - which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass - Garrison Architects is a progressive practice focused on sustainable buildings and urban design. At the end of summer 2010, it completed work on Red Hook Green, the city's first sustainable, zero-energy building. Designed as a live-work space for a family in one of Brooklyn's many gentrifying industrial zones, the building meets all its energy needs from low-cost, locally available, non-polluting and renewable sources such as solar and wind power.

Jim Garrison, the practice's head, hopes eventually to produce buildings that not only support their own heating and cooling, but generate enough energy to pay for their construction over their lifetime. "The issues that affect us affect everyone - they just affect New Yorkers, perhaps, more strongly," he says. "Every project these days has too little money, too little time, and disrupts too many neighbours. And there are multiple interested groups with something to say about it. That makes it a very complex stew." garrisonarchitects.com