There is a wonderful list (full disclosure: City Comforts is on the list) of great urban planning books. One title includes discussion of The Highline in Manhattan. I love The Highline; it is a magnificent idea (by amateurs!) and well-execuited by Corner and other designers. But I do have a question about any book about The Highline in NYC because the work -- while heroic in the best possible sense -- is sui generic. So I wonder if there is much to learn from it -- except perhaps that the extraordinary is sometimes possible. But the common lesson from The Highline is not that the idiosyncratic, the remarkable gesture, the fragment of history is possible but much more literal lesson: that old elevated RR lines can work as a park. But that is NOT a lesson which should be spread as the circumstances are so rare. I do love The Highline but when I hear it used as inspiration in Seattle -- Lets build an elevated park! -- I shudder.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Mar 2014 23:45:43 +0000
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