Stories

Honors for Green Map System:

Although this Green Map was published more than a decade ago, it's a featured story because it led to so much!

The Green Map organization is based on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, which is getting hotter and more crowded all the time.

#Climate Action Month? We're Participating!

Green Map NYC created a Site Marker test during the 2010 Art in Odd Places festival - check out the different designs contributed by Green Mapmakers around the world!

2023 update: check out our always updated deck - bit.ly/SB18deck - our team has expanded, the new restrooms are open and we are making headway - indeed, NYC Parks Department has agreed to return the building in 2026! (Opps - is this still the case in 2024? please stand by)The Stanton Building Task Force was formed by Green Map System, University Settlement and the Sara D Roosevelt Park Coalition with the aim of returning a park building to the community’s use. Built for this purpose in 1934, the building became storage for all of Manhattan’s parks following NYC’s financial crisis in the 1970’s. Located near Green Map's office, this is one of our local projects that extends the mapping to making green spaces.

In 2011 - 2013, Green Map took part in a unique coalition to promote equitable access to bicycling in the neighborhood where we are based. What does bicycling have to do with mapping?

Wendy Brawer, Green Map's director, writes:

The Beginning: Our original 1992 Green Apple Map projects gave users a unique sustainable perspective and provided a view unlike any other map of this city. While initiating the global Green Map project became the priority, our mapmaking in NYC took a break. There was a five-year gap between editions, although our site data collection kept growing.

Over the years, young sustainable transportation enthusiasts have used their bikes to research (and distribute) many kinds of Green Maps.

Green Mapmaking was central to the 'Charting Sustainability in the Real World' course developed and taught by our director and longtime strategist, Dr. Robert Zuber, at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study.

In 2014, with support from Patagonia Soho, Green Map System developed a detailed map to help guide tourists and residents of NYC to shop smart. Initiated by our star summer intern, Samantha Riccio of Marist College and with contributions by Li Tang and Shannon Hollenbeck, the NYC Fashion map includes details about the services and merchandise available at different locations, as well as photos at specific sites. The lineup of locations ranges from high-end stores like Stella McCartney’s to consignment stores, Goodwill locations, and even environmentally friendly laundry locations.

In order to move towards sustainability, NYC must improve the performance of existing buildings and any new construction to come. Recognizing the importance of this goal, in 2011, Green Map System developed an open platform map used to identify locations that met the then-new LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards.

LoMap was created with and for the youth of lower Manhattan.

In 2008, Green Map System created an interactive edition of the Compost Green Map of Manhattan. This map features 285 sites and has amassed participation by 14 different team members. Some notable locations include the Seton Halls Garden in the Bronx, the Horticultural Society of New York in Midtown Manhattan, as well as the High Rock Park Environmental Education Center in Staten Island, with locations in all five boroughs and a diversity of programs and activities described at each site. With the Lower East Side Ecology Center, Green Map System has published three editions of the map and helped tripled the rate of composting in Manhattan. Here, you can download the first edition and compare it to the third print edition.

Over the years, active nonprofits and institutions in the Harlem area have collaborated to generate unique Green Maps in the Harlem neighborhood that illustrate the green, as well as hazardous, sites in each neighborhood to help the community move towards sustainability. This has culminated in the Healthy Living Harlem: Green Map for Eco-Justice, which includes details about environmental justice sites as well as farmer’s markets, green enterprises, and more in the neighborhood. It is available via pdf to print or view online. The New York Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice included many groups, led by  the great EJ group, West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc., Columbia University, and the Ecologies of Learning Project at New York Theological Seminary.

Starting in 2012, Green Map System created the Less = More NYC Green Map. This map is intended to support the reduction of waste and product consumption throughout the boroughs of New York City. Waste reduction centers are important to visualize as the environmental problems we face as a planet will not be solved through recycling and the purchasing of eco-friendly products alone, but will require a fundamental change in the nature of our consumption and waste.

The Hola LES Green Map charts the speculative future of the ever-changing Lower East Side! Named for its location between HOuston and DeLAncey streets, it highlights existing resources as well as conceptual projects that contribute to the community’s sustainability and sense of place.