Around the World, Cities Imitate the High Line

The High Line concept has grown into something approximating a movement. Grace Chua writes, "Every month, it seems, another city announces plans for what inevitably gets marketed as its 'version of the High Line.' [...] As the New York comparisons stretch, the very phrase 'High Line' is morphing into a catch-all synonym for what urban planners would simply call a 'linear park.'"

This piece looks at several re-purposing concepts throughout the world, including the following:

• In Seoul, "the city government is turning a nearly 1-kilometer (half-mile) section of [a disused overpass] into a pedestrian walkway linking Seoul Station to downtown neighborhoods."
• In Tel Aviv, "the city council approved an ambitious, US$525 million project to cap part of the highway with a rooftop park."
• In Rome, a team funded by Renzo Piano transformed the area under a viaduct into a space for arts, exhibitions, and workshops. 
• In Philadelphia, the Reading Viaduct Project envisions an elevated park very similar to New York's own.