High Line Park in New York
Extending over 2.5 km, the High Line winds its way through the West Side of Manhattan. When the elevated railway was built in the 1930s, freight trains were able in part to pull up directly at the factories and warehouses of the former commercial areas of the city: the meatpacking district, West Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen/Clinton. In the meantime, many of these neighbourhoods have been transformed and house trendy galleries, restaurants and boutiques, as well as containing expensive offices and housing. The railway strip itself has been disused since 1980 and was threatened with demolition. Thanks to the initiative of Friends of the High Line, it has now been converted into a public park and has since become one of the main attractions of New York City. Divided into three constructional sections, the first was opened in 2009, and the second, longer section in May 2011.
