The highline was very different from what I imagined it would be. I had never been there before but I though it would be an ordinary park where various (dull) plants would be growing amongst the older tracks. I read that it was elevated, but did not take much consideration of it. However once I walked down 23rd ST towards 10th AVE and saw the stairs leading up to the park, I realized it was something really different.
This park basically defined my perception of what Marris describes a Rambunctious Garden to be. The park is so manicured but at the same time has wild natural feel. The long (clean) white path with architecturally suave benches makes the parks look like it was all artificially made. The city building backdrop and the layout of the park make the plants and wildlife, which on their own would look very wild and natural, instead seem as if a gardener had painstakingly planted the plant to look as natural as possible.
The fact that an abandoned city railroad, something many people would not assume would be a place to hang out and relax, is now a park where people can relax and get a little piece of nature during their lunch breaks turned park is enough to say that the High Line is Urban Nature. Though there are many people walking around the highline, it still feels very serene. It is really a place to get away from the hectic, fast paced city life, while still being in the city. Being close to the Hudson River adds to the serenity by the winds that drown out the noise from the cars and construction nearby. Nature is considered to be an escape from daily life, and the High Line is one of the places to do it on the West Side.
I was also very surprised by all the wildlife diversity. I did not see many pollinators (only a bee perhaps because of all the people walking around), but there were many different types of plants. When reading Stallers paper, he goes on for a very long time about the different plants, animals or insects that can be found. Though the paper mentions the many plants that can be found in the park, once getting to the park you can really see the variety. Stalter’s paper mentions a lot about the diversity of the park, which does add to the Rambunctious Garden definition, I don’t think the diversity is as important as what the park looks like and what it does for its goers.
Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87762520@N06/
