New York‟s High Line:

Model for Adaptive Reuse, Future Parks, and Economic Development in the City

Jeremy R. Young

GOVT 341: Introduction to City Planning

Dr. Charles E. Greenawalt II

Millersville University of Pennsylvania

May 6, 2011

1

2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………1

EARLY HISTORY OF THE LOWER WEST SIDE’S ELEVATED TRACK……………...2

The Supply Line for West Chelsea & the Meatpacking District…………...……………..2

Construction of a Viaduct………………………………………………………………...3

The Viaduct‟s Decline...……………………………………………...…………………...4

Plans for Demolition………………………………………………………………………5

FRIENDS OF THE HIGH LINE.………………..……………………………………………..6

Origin, Goals & Vision for the Viaduct………………………………...…………….......6

Building Public Support for High Line‟s Preservation and Reuse……..…….…………...6

THE ARGUMENT FOR AN ELEVATED GREENWAY ON THE HIGH LINE.…………7

An Existing Model: Paris‟s Promenade Plantée…………………………………………..7

Recognizing the Social, Health & Economic Benefits of Parks…………………………..8

ALL ABOARD: THE CITY OF NEW YORK FORMALLY BACKS PARK VISION……9

FULL STEAM AHEAD: THE DESIGN PHASE AND IMPLEMENTATION……………10

High Line Design Contest………………………………………………………………..10

Mimicking History & Nature‟s Wild Arrangement……………………………………...11

Construction Timeline: Three Phases……………………………………........................12

MEASURING THE HIGH LINE’S SUCCESS………………………………………………13

Economic Impact on Lower West Manhattan & Greater New York City……………….13

Public Reception…………………………………………………………………………14

The High Line: Envy of Cities Worldwide………………………………………………15

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………17

1

INTRODUCTION

“We want a ground to which people may easily go after their day‟s work is done, and

where they may stroll for an hour, seeing, hearing, and feeling nothing of the bustle and jar of the

streets, where they shall, in effect, find the city put far away from them. …The park…should be

the beauty of the fields, the meadow, the prairie…the green pastures…”1 So wrote in 1870 the

great Frederick Law Olmsted, who is widely recognized as the father of American landscape

architecture and the artist responsible for the design of one of the world‟s most famous public

spaces: New York City‟s beloved Central Park. Olmsted‟s grand vision for public places like

Central Park has come to embody a core set of principles which urban parks have strived to fit

ever since.

Indeed, Olmsted‟s words ring true just as much today as they did nearly a century and a

half ago. In a city like New York—one of the busiest, most densely populated areas in the United

States and in the world—there becomes a need, from time to time, for one to escape the chaos

and commotion of the man-made urban environment and to retreat to a tranquil and pastoral-like

setting. For generations of residents and workers in the Lower West Side of Manhattan, however,

in the areas known today as the Meatpacking District and West Chelsea, the notion of having

access to open green space had always been nothing more than an intangible dream. Since the

mid-nineteenth century, this area of Manhattan had been built-up extensively and was the nerve

center for manufacturing, warehousing, and other industrial activity. Quite simply, it was the

antithesis of a pastoral landscape and there was no land available to create such a place.

1 Frederick Law Olmsted, “Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns.” In Civilizing American Cities: A Selection

of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Writings on City Landscapes, edited by S.B. Sutton (Cambridge, Mass: MIT

Press, 1971), 80-81.

2

So remained the case until the waning years of the twentieth century, when a rare and

promising opportunity presented itself before the people of the Lower West Side. This

opportunity manifested itself in the form of a defunct elevated freight rail viaduct slated for

demolition, which had captured the attention of many residents of the up-and-coming

surrounding neighborhood. In just a decade‟s time, the focus of a large-scale demolition quickly

became the centerpiece for a cutting edge attempt at a district‟s rebirth and has gained

international attention. Since it opened to the public in 2009, New York‟s “High Line” has

become a shining example of community collaboration, historic preservation and adaptive reuse,

as well as a grand catalyst for parks and recreation innovation and economic development. The

creativity and design of this elevated greenway has become an inspiration to cities around the

world for similar projects in this new century.

EARLY HISTORY OF THE LOWER WEST SIDE’S ELEVATED TRACK:

The Supply Line for West Chelsea & the Meatpacking District

During the Lower West Side of Manhattan‟s industrial heyday from the mid-nineteenth

century through the first two decades of the twentieth century, commercial activity was in full

swing. Livestock from New York‟s hinterlands were brought into the district and slaughtered en

masse in the prevalent meatpacking plants. Raw materials were carried to various manufacturing

centers in the district, brought into the city by ship and barge and distributed at the adjacent

Chelsea Piers on the Hudson River.2 Factory workers and residents on foot, horses and horse-

drawn carriages, and eventually the automobile, literally clogged the streets and competed with

powerful New York Central freight trains which chugged along at street level on 10th

Avenue to

2 Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line (New York: Design Trust for Public Space with Friends of the High Line,

2002), 12.

3

their industrial-related destinations. Such congestion quite frequently and tragically took the lives

of many involved in this daily hustle and bustle. In fact, many people who died were struck by

the quickly moving freight trains, and 10th

Avenue became known to the locals as “Death

Avenue” over time.3 A New York state senator remarked in 1866, “The traction of freight and

passenger trains by ordinary locomotives in the surface of the streets is an evil which has already

been endured too long and must be speedily abated.”4

Construction of a Viaduct

Such an “evil” took almost seventy years to be “abated.” In a long overdue action that

was expected to drastically reduce congestion and further fatalities, a partnership comprised of

New York Central Rail Road, New York State, and the City of New York pumped funds into the

construction of an elevated rail viaduct to forever remove the trains from the West Side‟s

streets.5 In June 1934, the new trestle opened for service,

6 and rising as high as 29 feet above

street level at most points, it generally became known as the “elevated track.”7 The project,

which cost over $85 million in 1930s dollars, stretched an elevated double track from Spring

Street northward to 30th

Street and eliminated 105 street-level rail crossings.8 The new viaduct

cut through city blocks instead of directly over 10th

Avenue in order to avoid suffocating the

streetscape, and was designed to allow trains to travel directly into and through the Lower West

3 Friends of the High Line, Designing the High Line: Gansevoort Street to 30

th Street (New York: Friends of the

High Line, 2008), 16. 4 Meera Subramanian, “Blasts From the Past,” The New York Times, February 5, 2006,

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/nyregion/thecity/05high.html/partner/rssnyt?scp=1&sq=blasts%20fro

m%20the%20past&st=cse. 5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line, 7.

8 Ibid., 47-48.

4

Side‟s factories, warehouses and meatpacking plants to distribute goods and raw materials. This

particular design feature allowed the freight trains to go about their business virtually unnoticed.9

The Viaduct’s Decline

Despite being built to withstand the test of time and support the weight of four fully

loaded freight trains,10

the elevated track only continued to operate as a crucial supply line for

the City of New York for less than half a century more. Service on the largest and southernmost

section of the line, south of Bank Street, screeched to a halt in 1960 and a mere three years later

the section was demolished altogether.11

The last train traversed the tracks of the elevated line

just before Thanksgiving in 1980, carrying three full cars of frozen turkeys.12

By this time, many

similar rail viaducts, and even entire freight rail systems in various regions of the country, had

essentially become obsolete and faced the same fate. Rail commerce simply could not compete

with the increasingly larger fleets of freight trucks and the ever-popular Interstate Highway

System created a quarter century earlier.13

The closing of the elevated track in 1980 for freight train traffic opened the door for

“advertisers and graffiti artists” over time, as one New York Times writer reported.14

The elevated

track, which rose high above the street, proved to be the ideal spot for many a billboard, but not

much more. Most importantly, the absence of trains had also left the door wide open for Mother

Nature, who had the most profound impact on the viaduct in the end. Seeds carried by the wind,

9 High Line, High Line History, http://www.thehighline.org/about/high-line-history.

10 Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line, 7.

11 Ibid., 49.

12 High Line, High Line History.

13 Meera Subramanian, “Blasts From the Past.”

14 Ibid.

5

birds, squirrels and other animals, were deposited over time into the viaduct‟s gravel ballast and

quickly grew into thick vegetation, transforming the structure into a wild, natural environment.15

Plans for Demolition

As the days since its closing turned into months and months turned into years, the West

Side‟s elevated track quickly became the symbol of blight in an already declining

neighborhood.16

Paint started chipping off of the viaduct‟s steel frame, rust began to form, and

concrete slowly crumbled and fell down to the street below.17

To many West Chelsea and

Meatpacking District property owners, the elevated track was not only an eyesore, but stood as a

barrier to redevelopment and as a heavy weight on their property values. In the mid-1980s, in an

effort to demolish the remaining 1.5-mile viaduct, which by this time was starting to become

known as the “High Line,” concerned property owners and redevelopment prospectors formed

the group Chelsea Property Owners (CPO).18

During this time, the High Line and the parcels

which it occupied belonged to Conrail, the descendant of New York Central Railroad which had

built it half a century before.

Nearly a decade later, in 1992, CPO took a giant leap forward toward its goal of

demolishing the High Line after the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) granted their

request and ordered Conrail to release control of the structure and allow for its demolition if CPO

met certain financial and legal requirements. This included providing financing and insurance for

the demolition operation.19

Throughout the remainder of the nineties, however, CPO had not

fulfilled those terms. In 1999, CSX Transportation, Inc. gained control of Conrail and the High

15

Friends of the High Line, Designing the High Line, 26. 16

Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line, 14. 17

Ibid., 57. 18

Ibid., 14. 19

Ibid.

6

Line and explored potential uses for the viaduct which did not include demolition. This action

seemed to signal a new direction for the High Line, contrary to CPO‟s continued, albeit sluggish,

efforts to meet the ICC‟s conditions and carry out demolition of the structure and their ability to

convince the city government that this plan should move forward. The same year, a community

group with plans quite opposite from the CPO‟s formed and came to the forefront of the

discussion about the High Line.

FRIENDS OF THE HIGH LINE:

Origin, Goals & Vision for the Viaduct

In the summer of 1999, a newspaper article which mentioned the approaching demolition

of the High Line grabbed the attention of two residents of the Lower West Side. Moved to

action, Joshua David and Robert Hammond attended a community board meeting hoping to find

a group which both opposed demolition of the historic structure and supported its preservation

and reuse. When they learned that no such group existed, they started one of their own: a non-

profit organization they named “Friends of the High Line” (FHL).20

FHL‟s primary mission was

one of “preserving the High Line and reusing it as an elevated public space”21

and bringing

it“into the federally sanctioned rail-banking program, which would open the rail deck to the

public for use as a walkway.”22

Building Public Support for High Line’s Preservation and Reuse

Realizing that CPO was well underway with its plans to demolish the High Line, David,

Hammond and FHL wasted no time in waging a countermovement. Their first major step, in

20 High Line. Friends of the High Line. http://www.thehighline.org/about/friends-of-the-high-line.

21 Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line, 53.

22 Ibid., 14.

7

2000, was to submit a proposal to New York‟s not-for-profit Design Trust for Public Space in an

effort to produce a blueprint for an elevated open space that they hoped would really catch the

attention of the general public and help to gain their support at large.23

This tactic was entirely in

sync with FHL‟s rail-banking plan and focused on the High Line as a type of rail-trail and

greenway. The Design Trust immediately sought and awarded fellowships to two architects,

Casey Jones and Keller Easterling, to identify a popular vision for the viaduct. Jones‟ vision was

favored and resulted in a publication by the Design Trust in cooperation with FHL, entitled

Reclaiming the High Line, which captured much needed attention from the public.24

In addition

to the Design Trust‟s support, the FHL‟s efforts quickly received citywide and even national

attention which they owed to feature articles, captivating photo spreads and editorials in the New

York Times, the Daily News, and the New Yorker.25

THE ARGUMENT FOR AN ELEVATED PARK ON THE HIGH LINE

An Existing Model: Paris’s Promenade Plantée

The idea to create an elevated park or greenway from an abandoned rail viaduct did not

originate in New York. In fact, the concept had been applied for the first time years before

Joshua David and Robert Hammond formed FHL. During the campaign to identify the best

possible reuse for the High Line, design professionals pointed toward Paris, France. There, in the

early 1990s, an unused brick, arched viaduct in the city‟s 12th

arrondissement (“district”) was

converted into the Promenade Plantée (“Planted Promenade”), which is also known as the

Coulée Vert (“Green Flow”). The greenway, which was completed in 2000, is planted

extensively with trees, flowers and grasses and stretches over 4.5 kilometers. Vegetation is so

23

Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line, 53. 24

Ibid. 25

Ibid.

8

thick at some places on the path that it “gives the impression of being momentarily lost on a

forest trail. Then there are breaks in the herbage, offering views of the surrounding city.”26

FHL

closely modeled its vision for the High Line on the Promenade Plantée as the two viaducts

shared many similarities prior to transformation and the French example represented a unique

and innovative approach to creating public space to the likes of which the world had never before

seen.

Recognizing the Social, Health & Economic Benefits of Parks

The team of civic organization representatives, architects and design professionals, and

above all, park advocates which comprised FHL, understood when backing a vision for an

elevated park space on the High Line that parks come with perks. Public parks, as illustrated time

and time again, are commonly known to benefit and support their communities in numerous

social, environmental, and economic capacities.

According to the Trust for Public Land, “residents of neighborhoods with greenery in

common spaces are more likely to enjoy stronger social ties than those who live surrounded by

barren concrete.”27

Parks and green space also create stable neighborhoods and foster strong

community relationships.28

Indeed, they provide an environment which promotes and often

inspires physical activity which can be as simple as a half-hour walk.

Parks and greenways and their vegetation are known to have a positive effect on the

environment. Trees and other plantings help to reduce greenhouse gases and other types of air

pollution while simultaneously producing oxygen. Dense vegetation and tree canopy cover may

26

Paris-Walking Tours.com. “Promenade Plantee.” http://www.paris-walking-tours.com/promenadeplantee.html. 27

Erica Gies, The Health Benefits of Parks (San Francisco: The Trust for Public Land, 2006), 6. 28

Ibid.

9

also help to reduce the urban heat island effect, which causes cities to have a higher temperature

most days of the year than their rural counterparts.29

Plantings also absorb stormwater runoff,

preventing and reducing the contaminants that would otherwise seep into the ground.30

The most measurable benefits of public parks and open space are economic in nature.

Parks are one of the most successful known catalysts for urban revitalization. As an article by

James Corner in Forbes Magazine notes, “New, well-designed parks focus private investment in

marginal areas and…stimulate adjacent real estate markets and attract visitors, restaurants,

commerce, street life, and safety.”31

Corner also provides the crystal-clear example of the City of

Chicago and its 2004 Millennium Park, noting that after the City committed $270 million to

building the park, it saw a return in investment of nearly $2.6 billion through increased tax

revenues and a $1.4 billion boost to the local real estate market.32

Another recent study dubbed “The Central Park Effect” found that over 25 million people

visit the famous New York park each year and that in 2007, “spending by visitors and

enterprises…directly and indirectly accounted for $395 million in economic activity. This

activity, as well as increases in property values near the park, generated $656 million in revenues

for the city in 2007.”33

The evidence here and above shows that parks pay.

ALL ABOARD: THE CITY OF NEW YORK FORMALLY BACKS PARK VISION

In 2001, in what was considered a landslide victory for the Friends of the High Line over

their opponent CPO, the Council of the City of New York passed Resolution 1747, which

29

Erica Gies, The Health Benefits of Parks, 13. 30

Anne Schwartz, “Good Parks are Good for the Economy,” Gotham Gazette, June 24, 2009,

http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/parks/20090624/14/2949. 31

James Corner, “Parks Pay Off,” Forbes Magazine, May 5, 2009, http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/05/state-of-the-

city-opinions-contributors-high-line-parks.html. 32

Ibid. 33

Anne Schwartz, “Good Parks are Good for the Economy.”

10

reversed its decision to stand behind demolition of the High Line and thereby supporting its

preservation and adaptive reuse as a public park. The resolution called on:

“…the Governor of the State of New York, the Mayor of the City of New

York, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority („MTA‟) to take all

necessary steps to obtain a Certificate of Interim Trail Use from the United States

Surface Transportation Board („STB‟) in connection with „railbanking‟ the

elevated rail viaduct…commonly referred to as the „High Line‟.”34

From this point forward, FHL had allies in nearly every category in line with their plan to

convert the viaduct, ranging from countless West Side neighbors and property owners, architects

and design professionals, park advocates, and government officials including Manhattan

Borough President C. Virginia Fields, New York City Mayor-Elect Michael Bloomberg, and

U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY).35

Miraculously, less than just two years after

FHL‟s formation, all parties necessary to move forward with High Line‟s conversion were

aboard, and the plan began chugging along full steam ahead.

FULL STEAM AHEAD: THE DESIGN PHASE AND IMPLEMENTATION

High Line Design Contest

After the City of New York threw support behind the proposal for an elevated park on the

High Line, the City and FHL co-sponsored an international design contest to identify the ideal

team of design professionals to carefully plan and fine-tune the vision. Selected for the

34

Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line, 54. 35

Ibid., 54-55.

11

architectural expertise required for the project was the firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and for

landscape design matters, the firm Field Operations was chosen.36

Mimicking History & Nature’s Wild Arrangement

Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Field Operations were ultimately chosen to lead the design

for the High Line because of their careful effort to maintain a fine balance between preserving

the rail viaduct as an historical relic and irreplaceable piece of urban infrastructure, mimicking

the wild vegetation that grew on the platform since 1980, and creating a uniquely interactive and

innovative public space for New York while drawing on the best features of the city‟s existing

parks. The major design principles collaboratively established by the two firms, which have a

major focus on preservation, include:

“Keep it simple, keep it wild; keep it quiet, keep it slow.”

“Preserve typical railings and upgrade to fulfill code and ensure safety.”

“Preserve north-south sight lines and linear consistency of the High Line.”

“Preserve slow meandering experience through varied conditions.”

“Preserve and reveal the structure providing opportunities to inhabit and appreciate

details.”

“Preserve unusual and found conditions on the High Line.”

“Preserve wild, opportunistic landscape by enhancing existing plant species.”

“Preserve industrial presence of the High Line at the street level.”37

36

High Line. Friends of the High Line. 37

Friends of the High Line, Designing the High Line, 37.

12

As James Corner, Principal of Field Operations, explains, the High Line‟s design

acknowledged the viaduct‟s “singularity and linearity” and harmoniously, “wild plant-life—

meadows, thickets, vines, mosses, flowers, intermixed with ballast, steel tracks, railings, and

concrete.”38

The layout of the High Line‟s walkways and plantings was very carefully planned. For

example, “Long, gradual tapering of planks into planting beds forms a richly integrated and

combed carpet rather than a segregated pathways and planting areas.”39

To the author, the High

Line‟s design allows for it to appear as an intriguing combination of a boardwalk one might

typically find at a beach, and a lush, colorful meadow; all plopped down in the middle of New

York City, deeply contrasting with an environment built mostly of concrete, brick and steel. The

setting created by this design was surely intended to calm and inspire those who visit the park.

To some, it was intended to be a “Railway out of Manhattan.”40

Construction Timeline: Three Phases

The High Line, following the design phase, was projected into three phases for

construction. The first phase of construction began in April 2006 and completely transformed the

blighted viaduct from Gansevoort Street to West 20th

Street.41

This section officially opened to

the public on June 9, 2009. The second section, stretching from West 20th

Street to West 30th

Street, is expected to be completed and open in spring 2011.42

The design and construction date

for the third and final section of the High Line, which wraps around the West Side Rail Yards at

38

Friends of the High Line, Designing the High Line, 30. 39

Ibid., 118. 40

Diane Cardwell, “For High Line Visitors, Park is a Railway Out of Manhattan,” The New York Times, July 21,

2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/nyregion/22highline.html. 41

High Line. High Line History. 42

Ibid.

13

30th

Street and lies a few blocks west of Penn Station, is still pending. CSX Transportation still

owns this section and FHL and the City of New York continue to negotiate to secure it for park

purposes.43

MEASURING HIGH LINE’S SUCCESS:

Economic Impact on Lower West Manhattan & Greater New York City

With a price tag of over $170 million, the High Line did not come at a cheap cost by any

means. However, over six months before the first section of the park opened in June 2009, it had

been estimated by NYC Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Robert Lieber, that the High

Line‟s construction had already “generated $4 billion in private investment in adjacent

residential buildings, stores and hotels.”44

In other words, before the park even opened, it had

already more than paid for itself. Another estimate predicts over “$900 million in revenues to the

city over the next 30 years.”45

The High Line has been quickly recognized for its use as an

economic development tool for the City of New York, that which was likely a major factor in the

City‟s decision to support such a venture.

In the one and a half years since the High Line opened to the general public, the

neighborhoods directly adjacent to the viaduct have already seen major reinvestment and real

estate agents familiar with the formerly declining neighborhood have certainly noticed. Stuart

Siegel, of the firm Grubb & Ellis, explains, “…the Meatpacking District is coming back stronger

and faster than almost anywhere [else in the city]”.46

He also explained that prominent retail

43

High Line. High Line At the West Side Rail Yards. http://www.thehighline.org/about/rail-yards. 44

James Corner, “Parks Pay Off.” 45

Anne Schwartz, “Good Parks are Good for the Economy.” 46

Yaffi Spodek, “Meatpacking District Sees Influx of Retailers.” The Real Deal, January 12, 2011.

http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/35540?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+trdnews+%28The+Real+Deal+-

+New+York+Real+Estate+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner.

14

stores that one would normally expect to find on Fifth Avenue, such as Levi‟s and Sephora, are

relocating to the area so they can benefit from the foot traffic that the High Line now offers.47

Other, more notable projects have sprung forward on the Lower West Side as a result of

the city‟s investment in the High Line. They include:

The celebrated Modernist-style Standard Hotel48

A new Whitney Museum of American Art49

A two-tower structure with 869 condominiums on a currently vacant parking lot

between West 17th

and West 18th

Streets50

A 91-unit condominium building on West 28th

Street and other 30-unit building

on West 27th

Street between 11th

Avenue and the High Line51

The High Line Building, a new office complex, on West 14th

Street52

Public Reception

Since the first section of the High Line opened in June 2009, it has enjoyed

overwhelming support and popularity from residents, business people, and tourists alike. In just

the first month and a half that the High Line was open to the public, the park had over 300,000

visitors. According to Patrick Cullina, vice president of horticulture and park operations for the

High Line, the elevated greenway has attracted between 3,000 and 15,000 visitors each weekday

47

Yaffi Spodek, “Meatpacking District Sees Influx of Retailers.” 48

Diane Cardwell, “For High Line Visitors, Park is a Railway Out of Manhattan.” 49

Alison Gregor, “As a Park Runs Above, Deals Stir Below,” The New York Times, August 10, 2010,

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/realestate/commercial/

11highline.html?scp=1&sq=as%20a%20park%20runs%20above&st=cse. 50

Ibid. 51

Ibid. 52

Ibid.

15

and between approximately 18,000 and 20,000 on the weekends, since the first section has

opened. Visitors may access the former viaduct from entrances at Gansevoort Street, 14th

, 16th

,

18th

, and 20th

Streets.53

The High Line has also had a strange impact on New Yorkers, which are often

stereotypically thought of as rude and unfriendly, as Diane Cardwell of the New York Times

explains. “It even inspires crusty New Yorkers to behave as if they were strolling down Main

Street in a small town rather than striding the walkway of a hyper-urban park—routinely smiling

and nodding, even striking up conversations with strangers.”54

The creative and innovative design features of the High Line, which makes it unlike any

other park in New York, has its visitors entranced. Cardwell also describes one of High Line‟s

most celebrated features, commonly called the “Sunken Overlook.”

“In daylight, the space functions like a central plaza, with trees scattered

around benches, open areas and rows of amphitheater-style seating that offer a

windowed view of cars and trucks rushing below on 10th

Avenue. …At night, the

overlook turns into a Warholian conceptual installation, with its art-house vibe

and screenlike windows.”55

The High Line: Envy of Cities Worldwide

Just like Paris‟s Promenade Plantée had done for New York, the High Line has become

an inspiration and the model for future parks in other cities around the United States and the

globe. Other cities have recognized the High Line‟s fast train to success and have begun pursuing

53

Diane Cardwell, “For High Line Visitors, Park is a Railway Out of Manhattan.” 54

Ibid. 55

Ibid.

16

plans of their own for adaptively reusing their abandoned elevated rail viaducts. Friends of the

High Line, the non-profit group which fought to save the Lower West Side‟s elevated track, now

plays an advisory role to officials, designers and planners from other cities that are looking to

replicate what they have done. Cities, ranging in diversity from Jersey City, Chicago,

Philadelphia, Rotterdam, and Jerusalem, have all begun consulting FHL and have made trips to

visit the High Line to gather ideas for their own projects.56

In Chicago, a defunct viaduct is currently in the process of being converted into a

greenway called the Bloomingdale Trail. At nearly three miles in length, it is twice the size of

the High Line, and boasting a wider platform, may accommodate bike traffic in addition to

pedestrians.57

As the president of the Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail, Chicago‟s version of

FHL, notes, “In the mornings there will be a rush hour of bicycles. It‟s the east-west

nonmotorized transportation route that we don‟t have.”58

A proposal similar to New York‟s High Line and Chicago‟s Bloomingdale Trail is also

currently in the works in Philadelphia. There, the abandoned Reading Viaduct, which once

supported the tracks for the Reading Railroad, lies as a candidate for an elevated greenway. At

60 feet wide, its trestle is even wider than Chicago‟s Bloomingdale Trail, and could potentially

handle even more bicycle and pedestrian traffic.59

56 Kate Taylor, “After High Line‟s Success, Other Cities Look Up,” The New York Times, July 14, 2010,

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/arts/design/15highline.html. 57

Ibid. 58

Ibid. 59

Ibid.

17

CONCLUSION

High Line‟s success has led cities to take a second look at their aging urban infrastructure

and has given the notion of historic preservation more attention and credence. As the City of

New York and Friends of the High Line have proved, there are often more options on the table

than simply demolition. High Line‟s designers, too, have illustrated that realizing the alternatives

to demolition often requires serious creativity and thinking outside of the box.

Through collaboration and determination, a small group of citizens changed a

community‟s focus from one of demolition and destruction to one of salvage and reuse. The

product of this journey, the High Line, serves today as the international model for innovative

open space, economic development, neighborhood revitalization, and adaptive reuse.

18

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