Elevated park
{{Short description|Parks located above the normal ground (street) level}}
File:High Line 20 St twilite jeh.jpg in New York City is built on a disused elevated railway.]]
An elevated park (sometimes known as a sky park) refers to a park located above the normal ground (street) level. This type of a park has become more popular in the early 21st century, featuring in a number of urban renewal projects.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iX5ACwAAQBAJ&pg=PT107|title=Urban Revitalization: Remaking cities in a changing world|date=22 December 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-91201-9|page=107|author1=Carl Grodach|author2=Renia Ehrenfeucht}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/international-high-line-parks-2013-12|title=7 Plans For Elevated 'High Line' Parks Around The World|work=Business Insider|access-date=2017-05-30|language=en}} While usually associated with repurposed transportation infrastructure, some elevated parks are designed on top of buildings.
Elevated parks can exist, for example, on the roof of existing buildings (see also: green roof, roof garden),{{cite book|author=Thomas Schröpfer|title=Dense + Green: Innovative Building Types for Sustainable Urban Architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0vM-CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA264|date=1 January 2016|publisher=Birkhäuser|isbn=978-3-03821-014-6|page=264}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.sactownmag.com/October-November-2014/Park-Toppers/|title=Elevated parks in Sacramento – Why Not Here? – Sactown Magazine|website=www.sactownmag.com|date=2 October 2014|access-date=2017-05-30}} or on former railways, elevated roads, or other elevated urban elements (often becoming linear parks as well).{{cite book|author1=Shirley Jordan|author2=Christoph Lindner|title=Cities Interrupted: Visual Culture and Urban Space|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljtqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51|date=25 February 2016|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4742-2444-4|pages=51–52}}{{cite book|author1=C. Greig Crysler|author2=Stephen Cairns|author3=Hilde Heynen|title=The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPJcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT824|date=20 January 2012|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4739-7116-5|page=824}}{{cite book|author=Bruce Sharky|title=Thinking about Landscape Architecture: Principles of a Design Profession for the 21st Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OW2FCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35|date=5 February 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-53841-7|pages=35–}}{{Cite journal|last=Sinha|first=Amita|date=2014-04-03|title=Slow landscapes of elevated linear parks: Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago|journal=Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes|volume=34|issue=2|pages=113–122|doi=10.1080/14601176.2013.830428|s2cid=161802962|issn=1460-1176}} Examples of a linear elevated park include New York's High Line, Chicago's Bloomingdale Line, or Seoul's Seoullo 7017 Skypark.{{Cite news|url=http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/say-hello-to-new-sky-park-seoullo|title=Say hello to Seoul's new sky park|last=hermes|date=2017-05-20|work=The Straits Times|access-date=2017-05-21|language=en}}{{cite book|author1=Carl T. Hyden|author2=Theodore F. Sheckels|title=Public Places: Sites of Political Communication|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYpCCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155|date=14 January 2016|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4985-0726-4|page=155}} One of the earliest of such parks was the Promenade plantée (Coulée verte René-Dumont) in Paris, dating to 1993.{{cite book|author=Amalie Wright|title=Future Park: Imagining Tomorrow's Urban Parks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cLfAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT38|date=19 September 2013|publisher=Csiro Publishing|isbn=978-0-643-10662-8|page=38}} It has proven popular enough to encourage other cities to consider similar projects, a process that gained further momentum after the success of the High Line, the first such park in the United States, which opened in 2009.
- {{Cite web|url=http://weburbanist.com/2013/09/02/leisure-in-the-sky-13-railway-rooftop-parks/|title=Leisure in the Sky: 13 Elevated Railway + Rooftop Parks|date=2013-09-02|website=WebUrbanist|access-date=2017-05-30}}
- {{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/arts/design/15highline.html|title=After Elevated Park's Success, Other Cities Look Up|last=Taylor|first=Kate|date=2010-07-14|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-05-30|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite journal|last=Gastil|first=Ray|date=2013-10-01|title=Prospect parks: walking the Promenade Planteé and the High Line|journal=Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes|volume=33|issue=4|pages=280–289|doi=10.1080/14601176.2013.807650|s2cid=162260743|issn=1460-1176}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/05/03/how-the-high-line-changed-nyc/|title=How the High Line Changed NYC {{!}} Village Voice|date=3 May 2017|access-date=2017-05-30}}{{Cite news|url=https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/photos-the-differing-destinies-of-elevated-urban-parks|title=Photos: The Differing Destinies of Elevated Urban Parks|access-date=2017-05-30|language=en}} Numerous cities worldwide have looked into or started construction of elevated parks, including London, Washington, DC, Jersey City, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, São Paulo, and Rotterdam.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/10/elevated-park-makes-nycs-high-line-look-tiny/|title=An Elevated Park That Makes NYC's High Line Look Tiny|last=Rhodes|first=Margaret|magazine=WIRED|access-date=2017-05-30|language=en-US}} In 2015, Hélène Littke noted that the "High Line in New York City started a worldwide trend of elevated parks", and new elevated parks are often compared to it.{{Cite journal|last1=Littke|first1=Hélène|last2=Locke|first2=Ryan|last3=Haas|first3=Tigran|date=2016-10-01|title=Taking the High Line: elevated parks, transforming neighbourhoods, and the ever-changing relationship between the urban and nature|journal=Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability|volume=9|issue=4|pages=353–371|doi=10.1080/17549175.2015.1063532|s2cid=142879219|issn=1754-9175}}
Elevated parks have been criticized for high costs, though they have generally attracted positive reviews, including from academia. Littke observed that "The High Line is undoubtedly loved, and it is a successful place in many ways", and that its success proves that "elevated parks can bring 'new' nature into cities without occupying ground-floor space".
In 2016, a public referendum to convert Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct into an elevated park, inspired by the High Line, was strongly rejected by voters.{{cite news |last=Madej |first=Patricia |date=August 2, 2016 |title=Voters soundly reject elevated waterfront park for downtown Seattle |url=http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/elevated-waterfront-park-initiative-results/ |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=June 1, 2017}}
In 2022, a sky park was constructed on Castlefield Viaduct in Manchester, England.{{Cite news |last=Whelan |first=Dan |title=Work starts on first phase of £20m Castlefield Viaduct park |url=https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/work-starts-on-first-phase-of-20m-castlefield-viaduct-park/ |work=Place Northwest |date=7 March 2022 |accessdate=7 March 2022 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307154417/https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/work-starts-on-first-phase-of-20m-castlefield-viaduct-park/ |url-status=dead }}
