During our discussion of the High Line one question remained: what is the point of the High Line? Financially, it made more sense to keep the structure standing than tear it down but what is the High Line’s main function or goal? Designers and friends of the High Line repeat mantras of keeping it “simple, wild and slow” (62) but does the uber constructed atmosphere refute the statement? It appears that the goal of the High Line was to provide New Yorkers with an escape from their bustling lives but in the process, they ended up perpetuating the divide between the privileged and the disadvantaged.<\/p>\n
The High Line is a socio political disaster that hides under a guise of being inclusive and natural when in reality, who is invited and who is discouraged from entering is a highly restrictive process. Loughran used the example of people sleeping on the Diller-Von Furstenberg Sundeck to point at the immense amount of privilege that is commonly paraded on the High Line. Anywhere else in New York, someone sleeping on a bench in public viewed as criminal, especially if that person is of color. This perception changes if you are a white person taking a nap at the High Line. You are viewed as partaking in a leisure activity while others are persecuted. Privilege is also shown in the ways nature is depicted on the High Line. It appears to be perfect and effortless when in reality, even the trash is policed and kept out of plain sight.<\/p>\n
Another problem with the High Line is the selective community engagement. Visitors are presented with an illusion of choice that lets them shuffle between a couple art vendors and booths selling artisanal ethnic delicacies that were picked out for them in advance. The application process for vendors is long and tedious and most of the time they end up not selling anything because the visitors look at the art but they don’t buy it. The Friends of the High Line won’t allow typical New York street food vendors to sell on the tracks, instead they hire vendors that sell tamarind popsicles and other treats. The street food vendors continue their business on the ground level street near the entrance.<\/p>\n
The High Line caters to the middle and upper class, leaving all those who identify out of the two groups in the dust. Though the mission might label itself as inclusive and open, the practices are extremely restrictive and polarizing for most.<\/p>\n
As more and more “High Lines” pop up across the United States, my hope is that they are more intentional with their design. advertising and implementation process so that they don’t repeat the mistakes of the High Line. I don’t think that much is being done to change the space; people have accepted it as the way things are but it’s definetaly not they way things have to be. Hopefully, future spaces will find a way to bridge the economic and social divide by encouraging real cultural engagement and exchange and promoting all types of diversity, not just the kinds that would fit in with the image they are trying to construct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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