Originally constructed in the 1930s to lift dangerous freight trains off Manhattan's streets, the High Line has been re- vitalized, -designed, and -discovered as a trendy, innovative park in New York City's rejuvenated Meatpacking District. Section 1 of the High Line is now open as a public park, owned and operated by the City of New York but maintained by Friends of the High Line conservancy.Upon the completion of the project, the High Line will be a mile-and-a-half-long elevated park, spanning across the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell's Kitchen. The innovative, and certainly unique, park design perfectly integrates meandering concrete pathways with understated, whimsical flora.
Access points from street level will be constructed every two to three blocks, many of which will have elevators (all entrances will include stairs, as shown below).
In the midst of a truly 'concrete jungle', High Line Park reconciles this seemingly paradoxical aesthetic of steel railways yards and a public green space. Beyond its utility as a great public space, High Line Park should be considered an icon of innovative urban design. High Line Park not only provides great recreational public space for New Yorkers, but also provides other cities with a model for rejuvenating urban pockets of decay, preserving historic sites, finding inventive ways to make better use of space and integrating green space.
Mid-late 1900's: an unused railway yard
June 2010: a pioneering public green space
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