Designing the High Line, New York City's Elevated Public Park

FAIN: FT-61979-14

Julian B. Brash
Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ 07043-1600)

This research examines how the designers of the High Line, an elevated public park in New York City, sought to employ design to shape the park as a physical and socio-cultural space. It seeks to discover the effects these designers sought to instill in park users, how they sought to do so, and the broader implications of these efforts. Understanding how the High Line's designers took into account the social, cultural, and political context in their designs and how they sought to shape the urban public will generate conclusions concerning the meanings and functions of public space in the context of contemporary American cities. To accomplish these goals, a variety of methods will be used: interviews with designers, textual and visual analysis of design documents, and analysis of secondary sources. The research will provide the basis for an article to be submitted to scholarly journals, and possibly a book chapter. Results will also be disseminated to the public at large.

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