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Elevated park

Parks located above the normal ground (street) level

Anelevated 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]

In 2022, a sky park was constructed on Castlefield ViaductinManchester, England.^[19]