Green Urbanism with Genuine Green Architecture: Toward Net Zero System in New York

Changes that have taken place in the world over the past 30 years, including ecological disturbances and radical changes in traditional settlements, have produced cities that are not just chaotic and monotonous in appearance but have serious environmental problems threatening their inhabitants. Early in the sustainability movement, many rejected the idea of “environmental balance” as an impossible goal that ignored the realities of the Anthropocene. Thirty years hence two questions remain: Can technological means save us from ecological disaster, or will we fail without disruptive cultural, economic, and behavioral change? It is now clear that both are necessary. Over the last two decades, ecologically sensitive design approaches at the building scale have been understood better compared to those at the urban scale, and there have been significant developments in the field, although the contemporary architectural practice in the developing countries is still lacking many aspects of sustainable building design. The absence of the urban or neighborhood scale in most environmental literature was masked by the recent obsession with “green” buildings, most of which look green on their facades but lack energy saving ideas, climate-sensitive design, use of locally appropriate materials, and so forth. Based on these shortcomings, the authors critically explore in this chapter the concepts of green urbanism and green architecture based on the ideas observed in the development of the ancient settlements and the traditional contexts, introducing the Seventy-Six, the second author’s awarded project in Albany, New York. The chapter, stating its limitations, concludes with the future perspectives on the viability of the net zero system through that exemplary project.