About High Line Park

Owner: The City of New York and Friends of the High Line
Designer: James Corner Field Operations, with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Piet Oudolf
Location: New York, NY, West Side between 9th and 12th Avenues

Why the High Line?

The High Line is an elevated railroad reclaimed as an extraordinary public space, a connector of neighborhoods and a new model for the ‘greening’ of the urban environment. It is creating a new way of seeing the city and is recognized as an icon for innovative design and sustainability. The High Line spans over twenty-three city blocks on Manhattan’s West Side, interacting with 3 distinct neighborhoods: the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea, and Hell’s Kitchen/Clinton. It was built in the 1930’s to elevate freight traffic, removing dangerous trains from street-level. Left unused since 1980, the line was considered an eyesore in the neighborhood and was under threat of demolition. During that time an opportunistic landscape began to grow, capturing the imagination of a few New Yorkers and triggering the idea for its conversion into a park. Designed as an integrated system, the High Line’s plantings, furnishing, paving, lighting and utilities were conceived and built as one system.

Press

Read more about the Urban Open Space Award