To London, from New York... or should I say from Paris

The proposed final phases of New York’s internationally renown High Line is for a secluded bowl shaped structure. This further development will increase the High Line from West 30th Street to West 34th Street, and the extension is rightfully gratified so that it can continue to offer an area of tranquillity in such a busy city.

The High Line’s extension will provide further rare and valuable calmness, peacefulness and serenity to the pedestrians of New York. The proposed “Green Bowl” developed by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, immerses the people into a completely natural environment as most of Manhattan’s skyline will be blocked out by the surrounding wildlife. This offers people a place that they can relax and escape from the normal hustle and bustle of the city’s streets.

   

Image by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, courtesy of Designboom.

Yes, New York does have plenty of parks, between 1,700 and 1,800 according to The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, but they are all level and often surrounded by streets full of traffic. What makes the High Line so special is that it allows people to escape from this and either relax or walk to work through a wildlife area. This is why the development has such a big interest from cities all around the world. Most notable and exciting for me is the proposed “Garden Bridge” by Thomas Heatherwick which would feature a park over the River Thames in London.

The Garden Bridge is at the beginning of its planning and aims to offer pedestrians a unique and unparalleled view of London from the river Thames.  The combination of Thomas Heatherwick’s design team and Joanna Lumley came up with this pedestrian only, park bridge and needs a lot of planning work for it to succeed. In spite of this, I do believe it can succeed and the reasons for the bridge are vast, the only limitation is whether it is possible. There is no doubt however, that the High Line was their source of inspiration as it aims to offer people a calm, chilled way of crossing the river.

  

Photos from Dezeen.

You could say that New York’s High Line is revolutionary and pioneering as it has been the catalyst for similar projects being designed in cities across the world. However, to an extent that would be a false claim as many of you may not know that the High Line was inspired by Paris’ Promenade Plantée.

Completed in 1993, the Promenade Plantée or Coulée Vert is an elevated park developed on top of an old and unused railway line. This sounds very similar to the High Line, which poses the question how come the Promenade Plantée did not kick start equivalent projects in other cities like the High Line has? Maybe the situation of the Coulée Vert is not in the busy part of Paris, maybe the city is not as busy as New York or maybe it is the different culture of Parisians that cause the park to be less of an attraction. Whatever the reason may be, the Promenade Plantée did not grab the environmental departments of the world’s cities.

  Images courtesy of Eurotrips.

This brings me back to my previous point that you could claim New York’s High Line is pioneering in the attraction of green areas in cities. The Promenade Plantée may have inspired the development but the High Line is inspiring the modern developments across the globe. The development scheme has prompted similar parks already such as; the Bloomingdale Trail (Chicago, USA), the Reading Viaduct (Philadelphia,  USA) and Maidashi Ryokuchi (Fukuoka, Japan). As well as prompting extremely exciting, future developments such as the Garden Bridge (London, UK) and the very interesting Low Line (Manhattan, New York).

The High Line is a fantastic development that is a continuous success. It has provided the people of New York a relaxed, fun and therapeutic way to travel around the city. There is no doubt that the success of this scheme has prompting similar redevelopment projects in cities around the United States and across the world. However, we all need to remember and admire the Promenade Plantée for its innovative and ingenious project that is shaping the future landscapes of our cities.

By Tim Spears