More good news from New York, a city that almost monthly sets public-space precedents for North America. Yesterday, the High Line opened.
More pics from Fast Company here:
From the NY Times:
The High Line project is something of a New York fairy tale, given that it started with a couple of guys who met at a community board meeting in 1999 — Joshua David, a writer, and Robert Hammond, a painter — and discovered they shared a fervent interest in saving the abandoned railroad trestle, which had been out of commission since 1980 and was slated for demolition during the Giuliani administration.
That began a decade-long endeavor that involved rescuing the structure and enlisting the Bloomberg administration in its preservation and renovation.
The High Line, though unique on this continent, has itself a precedent in Paris’s Promenade Plantee. More about that in this issue of Price Tags.
Amazing, simply amazing! I can’t wait until the next time I’m in New York.
I was there recently. It’s one of those awesome unique things that add so much character and personality to a city. New York already has plenty of personality and character, but you can never have enough, and now it has even more than it had before.
I love New York.
always interesting to see the viewpoint from outside NYC…
i’ll agree this is a pretty cool concept, but it will remain to be seen if it will just wind up being a walled off playground for the well-to-do residents of the neighborhood it cuts through…already the local gov’t (to their credit) is going out of there way to insist/remind people that “hey this is public space, you can go there, even if you’re not a local hipster”…till now its definitely been hyped to death for the past few years and has spurred adjacent development that is hardly affordable or welcoming.
time will tell, but i don’t see it being a destination (like say Central or Riverside or Prospect Parks) which draw all sorts of people from near and far…..instead I fear it will be a cool spot if you’re in the nabe…and maybe worth a one time visit for the novelty aspect if you’re not
Here is a blog by Ken Mac in NYC.
http://walkinghighline.blogspot.com/
I don’t know how to put links into comments so anyone wishing to check it out will probably have to copy and paste it.
Looks great – an exclusive right-of-way for pedestrians (or is that a continuous passarelle?).
Of course you’d never see anything like this built “new” – local residents would complain about view blockage and shadowing on the street below.
Hi Gordon – my partner and I just returned from NYC and had the opportunity to use the High Line each day for scenic, safe and relaxing pedestrian travel along its length. As additional segments open, this is going to be a remarkable park addition to other green ribbons such as the Hudson River Park lands.