New York’s High Line: Model for Adaptive Reuse, Future Parks, and Economic Development in the City by Jeremy Young

New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x;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

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

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.

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.

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 horsedrawn 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

Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line (New York: Design Trust for Public Space with Friends of the High Line, 2002), 12.

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

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.

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,

High Line, High Line History, http://www.thehighline.org/about/high-line-history. 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. 10

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. Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line, 14. 17 Ibid., 57. 18 Ibid., 14. 19 Ibid. 16

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 nonprofit 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

High Line. Friends of the High Line. http://www.thehighline.org/about/friends-of-the-high-line. Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line, 53. 22 Ibid., 14. 21

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

Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line, 53. Ibid. 25 Ibid. 24

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

Paris-Walking Tours.com. “Promenade Plantee.” http://www.paris-walking-tours.com/promenadeplantee.html. Erica Gies, The Health Benefits of Parks (San Francisco: The Trust for Public Land, 2006), 6. 28 Ibid. 27

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. 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-thecity-opinions-contributors-high-line-parks.html. 32 Ibid. 33 Anne Schwartz, “Good Parks are Good for the Economy.” 30

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 35

Joshua David, Reclaiming the High Line, 54. Ibid., 54-55.

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.”

36 37



“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

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

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

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

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

High Line. High Line At the West Side Rail Yards. http://www.thehighline.org/about/rail-yards. James Corner, “Parks Pay Off.” 45 Anne Schwartz, “Good Parks are Good for the Economy.” 44

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.

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

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

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.” Ibid. 55 Ibid. 54

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

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.

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.

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