June 26th, 2009 · No Comments

“Its open-jointed planks in the pathways serve to funnel rain that falls directly into the planting beds rather than into storm drains. This cuts back on watering of the park, and also reduces the amount of storm water runoff by up to 80 percent.”

What the park does not do is function as a corridor for alternative transit. There are no bike paths — bikes, skateboards, and the like aren’t even allowed atop the Line — simply because the structure isn’t wide enough to accommodate plants and pleasure-seekers alongside a commuting trail. Dogs aren’t allowed either, since, as Lorah puts it, “the same feature that directs rainwater to the planting beds would also draw in dog urine, and deliver a major shock to the roots of plants still in their first growing season.” (Pet policy will be re-evaluated once plants are better established.)

Train tracks have been reclaimed for new purposes in other cities from Texas to England, but the High Line’s developers were mainly focused on one example.

“The only real model we had for the High Line,” Lorah says, “was the Promenade Plantée in Paris. It’s similar in its length, and that it runs through dense and mixed-use neighborhoods. When we first learned about the Promenade, it was very reassuring that it was a popular destination for both city residents and visitors.”

“One of the earliest and most pervasive arguments against the High Line,” she continues, “was that nobody would want to go upstairs to go to a park, and that an elevated park would thus never be successful. The Promenade quelled that fear for us — this had already been done. That’s about where the similarities end, though. The Promenade is a very French park: manicured, symmetrical, classical in its proportions and its horticulture. We wanted the High Line to reflect more of the wild nature of the landscape that grew up once the trains stopped running, so in that way, the design we chose was the opposite of the Promenade.”

The wilder approach suits a park cutting through urban blocks that, even where they’ve been turned into art galleries and chic restaurants, retain the functionally gritty look they had a century ago. From the High Line, New Yorkers can look west to the Hudson River, look down onto busy warehouses, and look up at expensive high-rise apartment buildings. At one point along the route, a clever amphitheater-like seating area even frames an avenue below through a plate glass window, giving new meaning to the term “street theater.”

Where the far more massive Central Park allows visitors to pretend they’ve left the city, this one weaves pointedly through it, offering new proof that urban living and green experiences don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

• To get directions to park entrances and exits visit the Friends of the High Line website’s map page.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

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