
IS IT GREEN?: Las Vegas CityCenterIt looks great but in the desert can anything be green and sustainable? Six LEED Gold certificates - does it call in to question the criteria for LEED?

IS IT GREEN?: Las Vegas CityCenterIt looks great but in the desert can anything be green and sustainable? Six LEED Gold certificates - does it call in to question the criteria for LEED?
What it is is a handsome, varied, occasionally ingenious, occasionally even beautiful piece of very expensive, very dense urban planning for 67 acres of short- and long-term housing, luxury shopping, eating and drinking, gambling and other entertainment in a conurbation unique in the world. Presuming it survives, perhaps even helps to turn around that place’s’s near-disastrous recent decline in visitors and revenues, its greatest contribution may be what it has to teach visitors and other observers about the value of fine art, decoration and architecture, careful planning, and sustainable design.