• historic
• industrial
• open space
• pedestrian
• public participation
• redevelopment
• transit system
• infrastructure

The High Line in New York, a 1.45-mile-long public park built on a long-abandoned elevated railroad, is a testament to innovative urban transformation and adaptive reuse. Formerly known as the ‘West Side Elevated Line’ in its golden years, this industrial heritage housed railway lines for the movement of freight trains on the West Side of New York City that were critical for the success of the neighborhood’s warehouses and industries by transporting millions of tons of meat, dairy and produce. Once hailed as an ugly eyesore that hindered the development of the West Chelsea area, the High Line, since its opening in 2009, has yet again proved to be critical for the unimaginable urban rejuvenation of the neighborhood. The High Line’s journey has been quite dramatic, to say the least. It has always remained a site of innovation. Before 1830, the ground on which the High Line currently stands was in the Hudson River. As New York became the largest manufacturing hub in the US, the city’s population increased threefold. The area surrounding the present-day High Line (part of the original ‘West Side Elevated Line’ as some of it was demolished) became an industrial hub, mushrooming with factories, warehouses, and rows of apartment blocks. Originally located at the street level, the railway lines were vital for this development. However, these railway lines caused much havoc as the district became more populated. Fatal accidents became more frequent, and the street below the present-day ‘High Line’ (10th and 11th Avenues) became famous as the Death Avenue. While many measures were taken to safeguard against such accidents, the fatalities kept increasing, sparking mass protests against street-level freight trains. As the freight trains were necessary for the functioning of the factories and warehouses in the precinct, the City of New York, the State of New York, and the New York Central Railroad reached an agreement that led to the inception of the urban design strategy called the ‘West Side Improvement Project.’ One major work undertaken under this project was to move the rail lines above street level to continue serving the district while opening up the streets for free public use. The first train ran in 1933 on these new tracks, which became fully functional in 1934. But by 1980, due to decentralization and the increase in the use of long-haul trucks, the train traffic reduced, finally coming to a complete halt in 1980. As the structure fell into disuse, the neighborhood experienced a noticeable downturn. Once hustling and bustling with activity, the area surrounding the High Line lost its former luster, giving way to an overlooked, postindustrial neighborhood. The structure was not immune to political plays as former New York City Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, faced pressures from local developers (who lobbied aggressively to tear down the structure, saying it devalued their real estate properties). During his last few days as a mayor, he expressed support for the demolition of the High Line. However, a wild natural landscape thrived on top of the High Line, which was only noticeable to people living above 30 ft from the street level. They witnessed its transformation from an industrial infrastructure to a continuous ribbon of greens and wilds that silently ran through the city, creating a corridor of respite in the densely built fabric. Photographer Joel Sternfeld captured this to reveal to the public what was hiding from the street level of the neighborhood. With these photographs, along with the relentless enthusiasm of the Friends of the High Line group and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s support, the community was successful in pushing the project for preservation and turning it into a site of reclamation; conserving and carrying forward the legacy of reinvention that the High Line stands for. The current design of the High Line aspires to encapsulate the essence of the unruly landscape that took root in this vital urban infrastructure while celebrating its industrial heritage. The design for the High Line was done by James Corner Field Operations (Project Lead) in collaboration with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Piet Oudolf who wanted to create a strategy of ‘agri–tecture—part agriculture, part architecture’ by converting the surface of the elevated structure into discrete units of soft and hard landscaping. The idea was to preserve the railway tracks while creating a space for public use that accommodated ‘the wild, the cultivated, the intimate, and the social.’ Thus, the High Line has become a site where policies and community engagement have intersected; where politicians and the commoner have come together to create a better and inclusive city; where two individuals, Joshua David, and Robert Hammond, worked alongside supporters, photographers, public officials and local community to save a doomed railway from demolition (by Mayoral order); where a site considered to be a blight in the West side neighborhood was transformed into a catalyst for urban rejuvenation, accelerating development at an unprecedented rate in the district. The High Line, beyond all of this, represents not only tangible material and infrastructural development but also intangible agency-driven and process-oriented transformation within the West Chelsea neighborhood. Since its opening, it has generated $5 billion in real estate investment and $1.4 billion in tax revenue for the city of New York. It has been by over 7 million people a year of which 31 percent are city dwellers. It is now a space that accommodates art, culture, and many programs that aim to empower communities and individuals.