The High Line, an innovative promenade created on a disused elevated railway in Manhattan, is widely recognised as among the most iconic urban landmarks of the 21st century. It has stimulated public interest in landscape design while simultaneously re-integrating an industrial relic into the everyday life of New York City. Since its opening in 2009, this unique greenway has exceeded expectations in terms of attracting visitors, investment, and property development to Manhattan’s West Side, and is widely celebrated as a monument to community-led activism, adaptive re-use of urban infrastructure, and innovative ecological design. It has also inspired a worldwide proliferation of similar proposals seeking to capitalise on the repurposing of disused urban infrastructure for postindustrial revitalisation.

Providing a much-needed critical perspective, this interdisciplinary symposium will interrogate the High Line’s relation to public space, creative practice, neoliberal urban renewal, urban political ecology, and policy-led gentrification. The event brings together scholars from urban studies, geography, cultural analysis, art and architecture, and is co-sponsored by the Milano School of International Affairs at The New School, the Department of Urban Studies at Queens College-CUNY and the Amsterdam Center for Globalisation Studies.

Published by Amsterdam Centre for Globalisation Studies

Photo credit by Amsterdam Centre for Globalisation Studies