I loved New York[1]. It took a little time to sink in, but by the time we were in the cab on the way to JFK airport looking back over the East river at night I knew that I would always want to go back.
One of the reasons I loved the city so much[2] is due to its massive size. The sheer mass and density of its population necessarily means that residential, industrial and commercial spaces have always been intertwined and interleaved. Apartment buildings jostle warehouses and office complexes for space as each strains to grow to its requirements.
The city and its people have embraced this inescapable reality by continuously integrating districts and its features.

One such feature which is now going through a re-invention is the High Line, a disused elevated railway constructed of steel during the 1930′s. It stretches just over 2 kilometres along the lower west side from 34th Street to Gansevoort Street.

High Line from street level

On the High Line

The High Line was built as a freight line into the city and its structure supports two lines. It was actively used until the 1980s since when its structure has been left derelict.
In 2002 two residents founded a non-profit organisation, Friends of the High Line, with the aim of removing the tracks from the structure and turning it into an elevated urban park.

High Line construction

On the High Line

The High Line runs through three famous Manhattan neighbourhoods, Hell’s Kitchen, West Chelsea and the Meatpacking District.
These have in recent years all seen major investment and redevelopment and the High Line project aims to link these neighbourhoods in a pedestrian-only park.

District Map

Work on the park has officially started and the aim is to have it open to the public in 2008.

Design Plan

I’m under no illusion as to some of the realities of the new park – it’ll be a mixture of park and high-end real-estate and leisure(bars and coffee shops). While it will be open to the public it probably will attract middle class types; these are realities.
But these realities do not detract from the massively positive influence of a project like this.
I am often frustrated by the South African approach to cities – if an area falls into disrepair it is either abandoned or rased and re-built in glowing neo-fucked-up columns.
The fact that the High Line park retains the existing structure and street-level face is, to me, a great example of how real urban communities can continue to interweave new uses of their limited space with the existing and historic function and shape of their cities.
The High Line project continues the approach to inner-city development that has made Manhattan one of my favourite cities – all chaos and noise, but still distinctly unified and of itself.

[1] And by New York I here mean Manhattan – we were there a total of ~6 days and didn’t go beyond the island.
[2] Apart from the food, the sounds and the architecture – the things that make it so unique
[3] Think of the