Billionaires Row

This image of the skyline surrounding central park as you look south really struck me because of the nickname given to all of the new construction going on in this area right now. “Billionaires Row” as it has become known is an area of rapidly developing sky scraping towers, most of which are zoned as residential or mixed use space. The prospect of adding this many new and very expensive housing units to the city’s already expensive real estate market has far reaching consequences not just for consumers of New York City’s real estate, but also on the infrastructure and resources needed to manage the ever increasing number of people these units will attract. As this growth alters New York’s social, financial, and physical terrain, it can strain our infrastructure with changing energy demands. In weighing the pluses and minuses of this change, we must consider the environmental impacts of this growth, and how sustainable it can be.