I'm a final year architecture student in Auckland, New Zealand.  I'm brainstorming ideas for a thesis proposal in Manhattan, an am having trouble coming up with ideas that I want to carry through. 

So far, I've delved into green architecture in high density, combining a park amidst skyscrapers but can't see a proposal that I will be happy with in the end.  I just see so many green architecture schemes it just strikes me as a bit hokey now.

I've been looking at the urban condition of New York and the rigidity of the grid to organize the city (Delirious New York), but can't seem to come up with any ideas.  I've lived in New York for several years and some of the things that I've been thinking about are:

1. Gentrification by wealth has created neighborhoods of high class and neighborhoods of poor classes.

2.  Mobility in New York takes face largely in the elevator (skyscraper) and subway lines.

3.  The urban grid of NYC promotes dense skyscraper landscapes that seem like cities within cities, whose condition is very separated from parks. 

What types of problems are there in New York?  Both on an urban scale and architecture scale?  What do you think will be a strong design topic for Manhattan?