Is Leeds all set for the High Line?

This year I visited New York City. The last time I visited I was on a mammoth road trip of the USA and Canada and spent seven glorious days in the city that never sleeps. Those seven days were jam-packed with trips to all the tourist hot spots. It’s been a dream since to go back but to experience it more as a native rather than a tourist. 

It meant that whilst I was there earlier this year I got to see New York with a more critical and open eye. Using the subway system this time was a less pleasant experience. Whereas the last time it all felt new and exciting, this time it felt more mundane; kind of like when the music and dancing stops in La La Land.

Experiencing New York this way meant I got to see things a little less ordinary. I got to see New York’s High Line. It has been on my bucket list for a number of years, especially since I got into stakeholder engagement work. Although it isn't completely deprived of tourists you do definitely get the feeling that whilst walking the 1.45-mile trail you are surrounded mostly by New Yorkers.

The rails to trails High Line is a fantastic example of a community fully embracing the planning process. Here we have a garden suspended over the bustling New York City streets that provides a rest bite from the heat, noise and stress that lies beneath. I was there during the depths of a winter’s day in February and so the beauty of it was more brutalist than I’d imagined and there wasn't much heat to escape from. The trees, grass and flowers had not yet surfaced and so left bare was the existing brick, steel and redundant railway lines.

1980 witnessed the last train running on the High Line, after which a group of property owners lobbied for its demolition while a Chelsea resident, Peter Obletz challenged the demolition efforts in court. He was successful and September 2014 saw the final piece of the community led project opening to the public after 15 years of successful advocacy to preserve the entire structure.

Often as part of the wrangling of a planning application subsidies are put in place to provide ‘open green space’ – a somewhat vague line, which often as a stakeholder engagement professional I will cling onto and promote far and wide as a benefit of a scheme. After all, who doesn’t like open green space? Therefore when things like the High Line catch my interest I am astonished to see what a well thought out ‘open green space’ can really look like.

Can this be replicated in Leeds? A growing city that is seemingly changing every coming day, and for the better I would suggest. 

Unlike New York’s, our Leeds equivalent will be anchored by a residential and leisure-led regeneration scheme but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially when they propose a new city park created across the viaduct, which is about the same length and width as Briggate and will link it to the city.

As our cities continue to grow it is refreshing to see genuine thought being provided to not only where we will all live, eat and shop but also where we can all go to get a rest bite from the heat, noise and stress of city living.