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.[1][2] While usually associated with repurposed transportation infrastructure, some elevated parks are designed on top of buildings.[3]
Elevated parks can exist, for example, on the roof of existing buildings (see also: green roof, roof garden),[4][3] or on former railways, elevated roads, or other elevated urban elements (often becoming linear parks as well).[5][6][7][8] Examples of a linear elevated park include New York's High Line, Chicago's Bloomingdale Line, or Seoul's Seoullo 7017 Skypark.[5][9][10] One of the earliest of such parks was the Promenade plantée (Coulée verte René-Dumont) in Paris, dating to 1993.[11] 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.[1][12][13][14][15] 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.[14][16] 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.[17][15]
Elevated parks have been criticized for high costs, though they have generally attracted positive reviews, including from academia.[17][13] 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".[17]
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.[18]
