New York City is looking to continue its commitment to becoming an environmentally-friendly city, through plans announced by former Mayor Bloomberg to turn an area near Citi Field in Queens into a green space-inspired neighbourhood.

The Willets Point area, situated between Flushing and Corona, is home to a number of industries, with the area suffering from soil contamination caused by the region's extensive automotive industry.

However, this could be about to change following US$3.1bn (€2.2bn, £1.9bn) worth of investment to develop a 62-acre site, which will include affordable housing, a mall, movie theatres, a hotel and green public space, with the potential to create 3,000 jobs.

The first phase of the project will begin with a clean up of 23 acres of contaminated land near Citi Field.

Once the area is fit for living, the 126th Street corridor will be developed, including the introduction of a 200-room hotel, retail shops and restaurants.

There will also be a commitment to providing residences for lower-income families, with 875 out of the 2,500 total units being built coming under the bracket of affordable housing.

The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has designated Willets Point as a LEED-ND pilot project, with scope to demonstrate NYC's commitment to an environmentally-friendly future for the area and its surrounding waterways.

Using the environment and green space as a way of solving housing issues has been gaining prominence of late.

In the UK, it was recently announced that the Government would back plans for the creation of a first Garden City in 100 years in the town of Ebbsfleet, as a way of helping to solve an affordable housing shortage in the south east of England.