New York City faces a suite of environmental and human health challenges in the 21st century. The need to understand the nature of these challenges, and to evaluate potential mitigation and adaptation strategies requires innovative scientific research and assessment, coupled with sound land-use planning, technological innovation, and urban policy. Our research explores the development of 'green' or vegetated rooftops as an ecological infrastructure in New York City.

Green roofs provide multiple environmental benefits by integrating the natural cooling, insulating, and water-retention properties of soil and vegetation into city buildings. There are many potential benefits of green roofs, but we focus on several key impact sectors.

These are:

• Energy use and global climate change
• Urban heat island effect
• Stormwater runoff

Our research includes data analysis, simulation models, geographical information systems (GIS) and cost-benefit calculations.

The citation for the full Green Roofs Research Report is:

Rosenzweig, C., S. Gaffin, and L. Parshall (Eds.) 2006. Green Roofs in the New York Metropolitan Region: Research Report. Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. New York. 59 pages.

Report available in pdf format.

• Executive Summary (1.4 MB)
• Introduction (712 KB)
• Energy (788 KB)
• Urban Heat Island (1.2 MB)
• Hydrology (208 KB)
• Research Station (72 KB)
• Cost Benefit Analysis (124 KB)
• Epilogue (48 KB)
• Appendix (48 KB)

• Full Report (2.6 MB)