The Highline, New York: Night Photographs By National Geographic (PHOTOS)

Parks in large cities are usually thought of as refuges, as islands of green amid seas of concrete and steel. When you approach the High Line in the Chelsea neighborhood on the lower West Side of Manhattan, what you see first is the kind of thing urban parks were created to get away from--a harsh, heavy, black steel structure supporting an elevated rail line that once brought freight cars right into factories and warehouses and that looks, at least from a distance, more like an abandoned relic than an urban oasis.

Until recently the High Line was, in fact, an urban relic, and a crumbling one at that. Many of its neighbors, as well as New York's mayor for much of the 1990s, Rudolph Giuliani, couldn't wait to tear it down. His administration, aware that Chelsea was gentrifying into a neighborhood of galleries, restaurants, and loft living, felt the surviving portion of the High Line, which winds its way roughly a mile and a half from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street (a section farther south was torn down years ago), was an ugly deadweight. They were certain this remnant of a different kind of city had to be removed for the neighborhood to realize its full potential.

Never have public officials been so wrong. Almost a decade after the Giuliani administration tried to tear the High Line down, it has been turned into one of the most innovative and inviting public spaces in New York City and perhaps the entire country.

For more information on New York's Highline, check out the and mention that the April 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine, on newsstands March 29.

All photos by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel/National Geographic

Comments

[Daisy Clark]

05:23 PM on 04/04/2011

This is an amazing space and use of decaying architecture. I've walked it and was impressed by both the views and sheer inclusion of old parts, plants and modern art. This is a spectacular park. The team used to create it will also be designing the new Seattle waterfront once the unsafe Alaskan Way Viaduct is removed. That too will be a successful use of art, plantings, and modern architecture.
Bravo!

[48thGuy]

12:30 PM on 03/29/2011

Only in New York could a rusting hunk of a long abandoned freight line be pumped as an innovative use of space. It looks hideous, better they fill in that polluted river to the west and grow something unusual like grass.
Now we can be assured a tree not only grows in Brooklyn, but also in Chelsea. New Yorkers are such suckers when it comes to natural settings.

[judiNJ]

03:42 PM on 03/29/2011

Wow! What a downer you are. This is a great space and fun to walk along. And BTW, that's the Hudson River you are insulting. If you think it is so toxic, go on back to the boonies and leave the exciting city to us to enjoy.

[studioh!]

10:20 AM on 03/29/2011

it's high, it's a line. it's night in some shots.

headline.fail.

[nfatt1]

09:58 AM on 03/29/2011

Looks like a nice place to get mugged.

[JerseyHooligan]

11:43 AM on 03/29/2011

or looks like a nice place to go to the best bars, restaurants, shops, hotels, etc, etc, etc,.... ahhh jealousy...

[CabCurious]

09:37 AM on 03/29/2011

It's great, but this is basically a bourgeois Chelsea terrace garden. Calling it one of the most innovative public spaces in the country is a stretch, no? Call me cynical. :)

There are many urban gardens scattered around the city and other cities around the world that are trying to integrate sustainability efforts with organic foods as a product.