The Highline

Before the highline came to be an expansive park, stretching across the lower west side of Manhattan, it was an elevated railroad. This railroad was meant to keep trains off the streets and protect pedestrians. Previously, the trains were built into the streets at ground level as the railroad was created before the area began to develop as an urban space. As the area the trains ran through became increasingly dense, people were at risk of being hit by the trains. This phenomenon was so prevalent that the city hired “west-side cowboys'' who were assigned to help pedestrians cross in front of trains on what came to be casually known as “death avenue”. The raised line ran from 1934 into the 80s. By the 90s it was at risk of being torn down in favor of making way for trendy, gentrified neighborhoods to thrive. However, community members came together to fund a non-profit to protect and restore the highline to the park that it is today. Although the park was initially restored in an effort to fight Mayor Juliani’s moves to gentrify the meatpacking district, today it serves as a tool for gentrification. Today it is run in part by the non-profit and in part by the city. The public space attracts mainly tourists, with views designed to look out onto other tourist attractions like the Statue of liberty. Furthermore, many of the establishments below are big name brand stores. Although this space has the potential to be an accessible community experience, it seems to be catered increasingly to tourists and consumers as opposed to members of the surrounding neighborhoods.


Past, Present, and Future

In the past, the highline has served as a consumption-centered space. Its original legacy lies in the transportation of meat (specifically beef) and other goods throughout downtown Manhattan, hence its position in the meatpacking district. Although it was repurposed into a public park after years of falling into disrepair (and being redefined as a space for counter-culture to thrive), it remains a consumption-centered space. The visitors are primarily tourists, walking overhead big-name brands and alongside expensive, modern apartment complexes and offices. Before this present state, when the railroad stopped running, the natural flora and fauna of the park began to grow wild and free naturally taking over the park. The future we see for this park honors those natural roots, allowing the park to veer away from the heavily curated natural spaces of the present. Perhaps this space could even honor the cows that defined the space in the first place.