New Ideas CityHello Museum

Downtown Sustainability Hub

Cover Image:

Time’s Up Bike-Powered Charging Station at Pop-Up Arts Festival

There are two untapped resources that could be more efficiently used in creating a sustainable NYC: vacant buildings and grassroots networks. According to Scott Stringer’s report on vacant buildings, there are more than two thousand vacant units in Manhattan alone. Every one of these could be used by networks of grassroots organizations in their efforts at sustainable forms of urban living. Time’s Up, NYC’s environmental education nonprofit, will use a building in Sara D. Roosevelt Park to create an example of what every vacant building could be. Last year, Time’s Up developed and deployed energy-producing bikes in temporary spaces like Zuccotti Park. We work regularly with other community groups focused on sustainability, from Green Maps to Occupy Working Groups.

In creating a sustainability hub for IDEAS CITY, we will partner with many of these groups again, in so doing connecting with even more untapped resources. Our proposal is to work with Sara D. Roosevelt Park and our sustainability network in creating a temporary example of the type of permanent sustainability hub we would like to see all over the city. We will feature energy bikes, composting classes, green job training, and more.