The intent of the video was not to answer those questions, but I'll take them on. I think people imagine that large cities are somehow unsustainable without oil. Perhaps cities like LA or Phoenix are in trouble, mostly for water and climate issues, but I would not say cities that pre-date the oil age like Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Baltimore are in serious trouble. In fact I think people from the suburbs will be flocking back to cities as places you can live a modern lifestyle without an automobile.

Efficient living is the key. People in cities use a lot less energy per capita than their counterparts in suburban homes - less electricity, less heating, less cooling and less lighting - and do not require liquid fuels to get around everywhere. Multi-unit dwellings are just more efficient, which is why they pre-date the oil economy. Pretty much every form of mass transit can be electrified as well.

New York's water supply is gravity fed up to the sixth story and needs some pumping beyond that, but it's much more efficient than a suburban water system over a larger area.

Oh and by the way, we are a year round deep port and have been since the Dutch arrived. We can get food, raw materials and manufactured goods shipped right to our docks, like we have for four centuries. We have almost half of the commuter passenger rail trips in the nation coming through NYC. Our freight rail facilities are significant already, and they can be easily improved (specifically for Long Island).

New York will have its own challenges, but in terms of energy efficient living, you can't beat the pre-automobile urban areas of this country.