Because of environmental, social, and economic disasters due to climate change worldwide, many countries and regions have forged responses and taken action. New York City, a global city, has always been the international leader with respect to urban governance related to climate change worldwide, and it leads global cities with respect to urban elastic construction. In this study, the challenges and opportunities of urban elastic construction in New York City were analyzed on the basis of a summary of its previous construction and development process. In addition, the overall objective and four major sub-goals with specific measures for the next 100 years have been discussed. Finally, after comparing the similarities between New York City and Shanghai, enlightenment for urban elastic construction in Shanghai has been discussed on the basis of the following four aspects:project construction, investment and financing, regional cooperation, and government management.