I lived and worked in NYC back in the 90's and it is a bit disconcerting to see people sitting outside in shirtsleeves in February enjoying the sun. I know that weather is not climate but I left the Big Apple after the Blizzard of 96 to move to Miami Florida. I can remember snow storms in April back in the 80's. Balmy February day just sounds wrong. Still I'd rather have bikes and pedestrian plazas as opposed to private cars in a city space any day.

Sometimes, challenging 'Cities' is as vague as decrying 'Technology'..

We've had cities for millenia. They serve a number of functions, at their varying scales, and represent certain benefits of scale that we don't get from Towns and Villages. They are surely an investment of some of our energy, but this concentration also produces efficiencies not possible in the country. They will have to shift and rescale, many drastically, and some fatally (Vegas?..) But it's a very deeply ingrained part of human society now, and not a product of the Oil Economy.

I have at last, after several months' experience, made up my mind that it is a splendid desert--a domed and steepled solitude, where the stranger is lonely in the midst of a million of his race. A man walks his tedious miles through the same interminable street every day, elbowing his way through a buzzing multitude of men, yet never seeing a familiar face, and never seeing a strange one the second time. He visits a friend once--it is a day's journey--and then stays away from that time forward till that friends cools to a mere acquaintance, and finally to a stranger. So there is little sociability, and consequently, there is little cordiality. Every man seems to feel that he has got the duties of two lifetimes to accomplish in one, and so he rushes, rushes, rushes, and never has time to be companionable--never has any time at his disposal to fool away on matters which do not involve dollars and duty and business.
~Mark Twain 1867

http://www.twainquotes.com/New_York.html

and so, as there will always be cities, there will always be fine folks who have no interest in them, too.

But my wife and I have realized that what we miss the most about our beloved NYC is the hugs. The friends we have there are so affectionate and we connected so well with them, we sometimes wonder how long we'll be able to stay away.

Bob

Cities are huge energy-sinks, there is no getting away from it, it is part of their nature.

The same is true (even more so x2) of Suburbia, and also towns and villages and even many farms (cotton, tobacco, feed lots, etc.).

Denser cities are inherently energy efficient/capita.

BTW, New York City has a unique zero energy potable water source.

Best Hopes for Energy Efficient cities,

Alan