The High Line Case Study: Rail Line to Park, Planting and the Street

The High Line is a public park built on a disused elevated freight railway on Manhattan's West Side, running from Gansevoort Street to West 34th Street. It was designed by James Corner Field Operations (project lead), Diller Scofidio + Renfro and planting designer Piet Oudolf, and opened in stages from 2009. It shows how a neighbourhood campaign saved a structure set for demolition, how paving and planting turned a rail bed into a park, and how a park changes the land around it.

The High Line at a glance

Design team: James Corner Field Operations (project lead, landscape architecture and urban design), Diller Scofidio + Renfro (architecture), Piet Oudolf (planting design).
Engineers (DS+R credits): BuroHappold (structural and MEP), Robert Silman Associates (structure and historic preservation).
Owner and operator: owned by the City of New York; operated, maintained and programmed by the nonprofit Friends of the High Line with NYC Parks. Friends raises nearly all of the annual budget.
Location: Manhattan's West Side, Gansevoort Street to West 34th Street.
Original structure: elevated freight line, opened 1934 (Friends gives the first train as 1933); last train 1980.
Park dates: team selected 2004 (DS+R lists 2000); built from April 2006; opened in stages 2009 to 2023.
Length: about 2.3 km (1.45 miles) per Friends; 1.5 miles (about 2.4 km) per DS+R; about 1.4 miles per City Planning in 2005.
Size and planting: 310,000 gross sq ft (about 28,800 m²) per DS+R; 150,000 plants and 500+ species per Friends.
Status: public park, open daily.

Figures are from Friends of the High Line, Diller Scofidio + Renfro and the NYC Department of City Planning. Metric conversions are ours. Where sources disagree we give both. Diagrams are MOA schematics.

The High Line history: from Death Avenue to a demolition order

Freight trains once ran at street level down the West Side. Friends of the High Line says that by 1910 more than 540 people had been killed by trains on 10th Avenue, which became known as "Death Avenue".

The fix was the West Side Improvement. Friends of the High Line's 2008 history and milestones describes a 13-mile project, agreed in 1929 by the City, the State and the New York Central Railroad, that removed 105 street-level crossings and cost over $150 million in 1930 dollars. The elevated line ran from 35th Street to St. John's Park Terminal at Spring Street. It ran through the middle of blocks, not over the avenues, and straight into factories and warehouses.

Trucking took the freight away. The southern end, from Spring Street to Bank Street, was demolished in the 1960s, and five blocks from Bank Street to Gansevoort Street went in 1991 (Friends of the High Line). The 2008 milestones record the last train in 1980, carrying three carloads of frozen turkeys. Property owners lobbied for demolition from the mid-1980s, and Friends says Mayor Rudolph Giuliani signed a demolition order in one of his last acts in office.

The brief and the client: a campaign before a commission

There was no client at the start. Joshua David and Robert Hammond founded Friends of the High Line in 1999 to argue for reusing the line as public open space. The milestones list what followed:

March 2002: Friends wins a lawsuit challenging the City's part in the demolition proposal.
December 2002: the City files with the federal Surface Transportation Board for "railbanking". Friends of the High Line notes that the federal trails law passed by Congress in 1983 lets old rail lines be converted to recreational use.
2003: an open ideas competition draws 720 teams from 36 countries.
2004: Friends and the City run a selection; 52 teams answer the request for qualifications, four are shortlisted, and the Field Operations and DS+R team is chosen (Friends of the High Line).
June 2005: the Board issues a Certificate of Interim Trail Use; in November 2005 CSX Transportation donates the structure south of 30th Street to the City.

The brief that came out of this was unusual: keep an industrial structure, make it safe and public, and keep the wild character that had grown on it. Clifford A. Pearson, writing in Architectural Record in October 2009, notes that the planting echoes Joel Sternfeld's 2000 photographs of the overgrown line. Our case study documentation guide shows how to record a brief.

Site and context: West Chelsea and the Meatpacking District

The site is a steel viaduct, not a plot. The NYC Department of City Planning's 2005 West Chelsea zoning proposal describes the line as generally 30 to 50 ft (about 9 to 15 m) wide and 25 ft (about 7.6 m) high, with about 6.7 acres (about 2.7 ha) of elevated area covered in gravel, grasses, shrubs and some trees. Architectural Record puts the park about 30 ft (about 9 m) above the street, so the height differs by source and by place along the line.

Around it were warehouses, galleries, meatpacking businesses, the Chelsea Historic District and the rail yards at 30th Street. Because the line runs mid-block, it passes between and through buildings.

The High Line design: concept and "agri-tecture"

The designers' idea was to keep the place's character and avoid adding objects to it. Ricardo Scofidio told Architectural Record, "We kept protecting the High Line from architecture." James Corner told the magazine that the team did not want a sharp line between planting and hard surfaces, and treated the park as one continuous carpet.

DS+R's project page calls the strategy "agri-tecture", part agriculture and part architecture. The surface is broken into small units of paving and planting, mixed in different proportions along the route, from fully paved to densely planted. DS+R also describes a range of microclimates along the line: sunny, shaded, wet, dry, windy and sheltered.

The High Line plan and zoning

In plan the park is one long, narrow route with a sequence of places along it. Architectural Record (2009) describes a sunning area at 16th Street with wooden chaise longues, some on wheels running on the old tracks; an overlook at 17th Street with a large window cut into the steel where the line crosses 10th Avenue; and a grassland south of 19th Street that keeps the old rails. Friends of the High Line lists later features: the Woodland Flyover, a metal walkway lifted off the deck so planting fills in below, and the Spur, with a plaza for art and two tilted planters.

Stairs, ramps and lifts bring people up from the street, and in places the stairs pass through the steel structure itself (Friends of the High Line).

Schematic route diagram of the High Line with north at the top. A vertical line runs from Gansevoort Street up past West 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 23rd, 26th and 28th Streets to West 30th Street, then turns west along 30th Street and north to West 34th Street. Section 1, Gansevoort to West 20th Street, is marked as opened 9 June 2009; Section 2, West 20th to West 30th Street, 8 June 2011; Section 3 phase 1 at the Rail Yards, 21 September 2014. A short Spur runs east at 30th Street and 10th Avenue, opened 5 June 2019, and a dashed Moynihan Connector, opened 22 June 2023, leads on to Manhattan West and Moynihan Train Hall. A pale band from West 18th to West 30th Street marks the High Line Transfer Corridor of the 2005 rezoning, about 100 ft wide. A dashed stub south of Gansevoort marks the parts demolished in the 1960s and in 1991. A note gives the length as about 1.45 miles per Friends of the High Line or 1.5 miles per DS+R — The park opened in stages over 14 years, and the 2005 rezoning drew a transfer corridor along the line from West 18th to West 30th Street. Diagram: MOA

For the real plans and drawings, see Friends of the High Line's design page, the DS+R project page and City Planning's 2005 zoning maps.

Section and structure: a park in a rail trough

Friends of the High Line says the line is structurally sound and was built to carry two fully loaded freight trains. Architectural Record describes 5 ft (about 1.5 m) deep steel trestles on steel columns, and a concrete "bathtub" that held the track bed.

In section, the new park is laid inside that trough. Planting beds and paving share the deck. Friends of the High Line says the precast concrete planks sit on pedestals, with irrigation and electrical lines running in the void beneath them. The planks have open joints so plants can come up between them, and DS+R says their tapered ends "comb" into the planting beds.

Schematic cross-section through the High Line. A concrete deck and trough, labelled the bathtub, sits on steel girders about 5 ft deep carried by steel columns down to the street, with a rainwater downpipe beside one column. In the trough, the left half is a planting bed of Piet Oudolf's perennials, grasses and trees, with two original rails set in it; the right half has precast concrete planks on pedestals with open joints, above a void that carries irrigation and electrical lines. Dimensions note the structure as generally 30 to 50 ft wide per the Department of City Planning in 2005, and the deck as about 25 ft (City Planning) to about 30 ft (Architectural Record, 2009) above the street. Below, a plan strip shows rows of long grey planks with tapered ends running into a pink planted field, from mostly paved on the left to mostly planted on the right — The new park sits inside the old rail trough: planting beds and planks on pedestals share the deck, and in plan the planks taper off into the beds. Diagram: MOA

The High Line construction and materials

Construction began in April 2006 with a groundbreaking at which a rail track was lifted. According to the milestones, tracks, ballast and debris were removed, and the rails were mapped, tagged and stored so that some could be reset in the new landscape. The steel was sandblasted to remove lead paint and repainted, the concrete and drainage were repaired, and pigeon deterrents were fitted under the line. Friends of the High Line says each section took more than two years to build.

The palette is short: the riveted steel, precast concrete planks, ipê wood benches and loungers (Architectural Record), and LED path lighting.

The High Line garden: Piet Oudolf's planting

The planting follows the self-sown landscape that grew on the line after the trains stopped; Friends of the High Line's gardens page says wild growth covered it for about 25 years. Oudolf chose perennials, grasses, shrubs and trees for hardiness and for how they change through the seasons. Friends quotes him saying that nature is his biggest inspiration, and that he aims to recreate its feeling rather than copy it.

Stalks and seedheads stand through winter for their look and for wildlife; each March gardeners and hundreds of volunteers cut the plants back by hand. The cuttings are composted on site.

How it was paid for and governed

The 2005 rezoning helped pay for the park. City Planning's West Chelsea document, adopted by the City Council on 23 June 2005, created a Special West Chelsea District and a High Line Transfer Corridor, generally 100 ft (about 30 m) wide, containing the structure and parts of adjacent lots between West 18th and West 30th Streets. Owners in the corridor could sell development rights equal to their lot's base FAR to receiving sites in the district, keeping light, air and views around the line.

Zone (2005)	Base FAR	Maximum FAR with transfers or bonus
C6-4, near West 28th to 30th Street	6.5	9.15 with High Line transfer; up to 12.0 with the Inclusionary Housing bonus
C6-3 areas	5.0	7.5 with High Line transfer and the Inclusionary Housing bonus
C6-2 areas	5.0	6.0 with High Line transfer

Source: NYC Department of City Planning, 2005; the zoning has been amended since.

On the blocks from West 16th to 19th Street, where the line widens and crosses 10th Avenue, a High Line Improvement Bonus let adjacent developments gain floor area by building stairs and lifts, public toilets, a plaza on 10th Avenue and about 20 percent of the park itself. The same document says the changes to financing and the Inclusionary Housing bonus would produce about 1,000 affordable homes.

On cost, City Planning's page cites $85 million for the conversion, written before Section 1 opened; DS+R says the city invested $115 million. Neither is a stated final total.

Reception: the High Line effect and gentrification

Friends' milestones note a 2005 exhibition of the preliminary designs at the Museum of Modern Art. DS+R's page claims the park has spurred over $6 billion of development and 12,000 jobs, drew 8 million visitors in a recent year, and has inspired more than 100 cities to reuse old infrastructure. These are the designers' figures, not an independent study.

The criticism is about who benefits. Katie Jo Black and Mallory Richards studied home prices and, as Richards summarised in Scientific American in September 2020, found that homes within 0.1 miles of the High Line rose in value 35.3 percent more than homes 0.1 to 0.4 miles away. Richards links this to "eco-gentrification", though the study measured prices, not displacement.

The co-founder said much the same. In a February 2017 CityLab interview, reported by Maya Rajamani for DNAinfo, Robert Hammond said the founders had focused on the design more than on its effect on neighbours. "Ultimately, we failed," he said, adding that he wished they had asked residents, "What can we do for you?" Friends has since run teen job programmes and partnerships with the nearby Elliott-Chelsea and Fulton Houses, and Hammond set up the High Line Network for other cities' reuse parks.

What designers in India can take from it

This is our reading, not a claim made by the designers:

Survey before you demolish. The High Line could carry soil, trees and crowds because it was built for two loaded freight trains. Before an Indian city clears an old rail siding or mill structure, survey what load it can still take.
Design the funding with the park. In New York, transferred development rights and an improvement bonus paid for access and kept the corridor open. Any Indian scheme that uses development rights should state, as City Planning did, how many affordable homes it expects and where.
Plant from what already grows, and budget for upkeep. Oudolf worked from the self-sown landscape, and the beds are cut by hand each year. In Indian heat, an elevated walk needs shade trees, a deck that can hold them, and a named body to maintain them.
Ask the neighbours first. Hammond's own regret is that the founders asked about design before asking residents what they needed. In India that means vendors, nearby housing and existing users, consulted before drawings are fixed.

Our Bosco Verticale case study is another project where planting depends on structure and upkeep, and our thesis topics list has urban and landscape topics.

Visiting the High Line

According to Friends of the High Line's visit page, the park is open from 7am to 10pm from 1 April to 30 November, and from 7am to 8pm from 1 December to 31 March. It is a public park that Friends works to keep free, with stairs, ramps and lifts at several points (lifts at four locations), and park-level entrances at 30th Street at Hudson Yards and at 31st Street and Dyer Avenue on the Moynihan Connector. Bicycles, dogs other than service dogs, and walking in the beds are not allowed.

FAQ

When was the High Line built?

The elevated freight line opened in 1934 (Friends of the High Line gives the first train as 1933). The park was built from April 2006, with sections opening in June 2009, June 2011 and September 2014, the Spur in June 2019 and the Moynihan Connector in June 2023.

Who designed the High Line?

James Corner Field Operations led the design, with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and planting designer Piet Oudolf. DS+R's credits list BuroHappold and Robert Silman Associates for structural engineering.

How long is the High Line, and where does it start and end?

Friends of the High Line says about 1.45 miles (about 2.3 km); DS+R says 1.5 miles. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street at Hudson Yards.

Did the High Line cause gentrification?

Home prices nearest the park rose fastest, according to Black and Richards (2020), and co-founder Robert Hammond said in 2017 that the founders had failed their neighbours. Friends has since started teen job programmes and partnerships with nearby housing developments.

Is the High Line free to visit?

Yes. It is a public park owned by the City of New York. Opening hours depend on the season; see the official visit page.

Working on a landscape or reuse project? Find an architect on MOA.

Sources

Friends of the High Line: History (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Friends of the High Line: Design (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Friends of the High Line: Gardens (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Friends of the High Line: Visit (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Friends of the High Line, via Public Art Online: High Line history and FHL milestones, 2008 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Diller Scofidio + Renfro: The High Line (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Clifford A. Pearson, Architectural Record: James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro: High Line, 19 October 2009 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
NYC Department of City Planning: West Chelsea zoning proposal, approved 23 June 2005 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Maya Rajamani, DNAinfo: 'We failed' to design park that benefited neighbors, High Line creator says, 13 February 2017 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Nicholas Korody, Archinect: "Ultimately, we failed": Robert Hammond on the park's relationship to the Chelsea community, 17 February 2017 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Mallory Richards, Scientific American: Who benefits from public green space?, 19 September 2020 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Katie Jo Black and Mallory Richards, Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 204: Eco-gentrification and who benefits from urban green amenities: NYC's High Line, December 2020 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Wikimedia Commons: Freedom of panorama (accessed 11 Nov 2026)