TheCenterforanUrbanFuture, a nonprofit research organization, estimated in a 2007 report about Staten Island that more than 2 million tourists a year take the ferry, with few ever leaving to explore the island.
But in another way these patterns augur a bright futureforan expansive American metropolis that, while not hostile to theurbancenter, recognizes that most businesses and families continue to prefer lower-density, decentralized settings.