Robert Hammond: Building a park in the sky

Translator: Magnus Kjer Reviewer: Jonas Tholstrup Christensen

The Highline

'The Highline'

is an old, elevated rail line

er en gammel, forhøjet jernbane

that runs for a mile and a half right through Manhattan.

der løber 2,4 km gennem Manhatten.

And it was originally a freight line

Det var originalt en fragtlinje

that ran down 10th Ave.

der løb ned ad 10th Avenue.

And it became known as "Death Avenue"

Det blev kendt som "Døds-Avenue"

because so many people were run over by the trains

fordi så mange mennesker blev kørt over af togene

that the railroad hired a guy on horseback to run in front,

at jenbaneselskabet hyrede en fyr til at ride på hest foran toget,

and he became known as the "West Side Cowboy."

og han blev kendt som 'West Side Cowboy'.

But even with a cowboy,

Men selv med en cowboy,

about one person a month

blev en person om måneden

was killed and run over.

kørt over.

So they elevated it.

Så de hævede den.

They built it 30 ft. in the air, right through the middle of the city.

De byggede den 9 meter i luften, durks gennem byen.

But with the rise of interstate trucking,

Ved forøgelsen i interstat lastbil transport,

it was used less and less.

blev den brugt mindre og mindre.

And by 1980, the last train rode.

I 1980 kørte det sidste tog.

It was a train loaded with frozen turkeys -- they say, at Thanksgiving --

Det var et tog med frosne kalkuner -- de siger ved Thanksgiving --

from the meatpacking district.

fra købpaknings distriktet.

And then it was abandoned.

Og så blev den forladt.

And I live in the neighborhood,

Jeg bor i området,

and I first read about it in the New York Times,

og jeg læste først om det i New York Times,

in an article that said it was going to be demolished.

i en artikel der sagde banen skulle rives ned.

And I assumed someone was working

Jeg antog nogen var i gang med

to preserve it or save it

at bevare eller redde det

and I could volunteer,

og jeg kunne hjælpe,

but I realized no one was doing anything.

men jeg opdagede strakt at ingen gjorde noget.

I went to my first community board meeting --

Jeg tog til mit første lokalbestyrelses møde --

which I'd never been to one before --

jeg havde aldrig været til et før --

and sat next to another guy named Joshua David,

og sad ved siden af en fyr kaldet Joshua David,

who's a travel writer.

han er en rejseanmelder.

And at the end of the meeting, we realized

Det gik op for os i slutningen af mødet

we were the only two people that were sort of interested in the project;

at vi to var de eneste der bare havde en smule interesse i projektet;

most people wanted to tear it down.

de fleste ville rive det ned.

So we exchanged business cards,

Vi udvekslede business kort,

and we kept calling each other

vi blev ved med at ringe sammen

and decided to start this organization,

og vi besluttede at starte denne organisation,

Friends of the High Line.

"Venner af 'High Line' "

And the goal at first

Til start var målet

was just saving it from demolition,

blot at stoppe nedrivningen,

but then we also wanted to figure out what we could do with it.

derefter ville vi finde ud af hvad vi kunne gøre med den.

And what first attracted me, or interested me,

Det der først vagte interesse i mig

was this view from the street --

var denne udsigt fra gaden --

which is this steel structure,

den her stål konstruktion,

sort of rusty,

rusten,

this industrial relic.

denne industrielle levn.

But when I went up on top,

Da jeg så gik op på den,

it was a mile and a half of wildflowers

var det 2,5 km af vilde blomster

running right through the middle of Manhattan

lige gennem midten af Manhattan

with views of the Empire State Building

med udsigt til Empire State bygningen,

and the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River.

og Frihedsgudinden og Hudsonfloden.

And that's really where we started,

Det er faktisk der vi startede,

the idea coalesced around, let's make this a park,

idéen udviklede sig og blev til; "lad os lave en park",

and let's have it be sort of inspired

og lade den inspirere

by this wildscape.

af denne vilde natur.

At the time, there was a lot of opposition.

Der var meget modstand på dette tidspunkt.

Mayor Giuliani wanted to tear it down.

Borgmester Giuliani ville rive den ned.

I'm going to fast-forward through a lot of lawsuits

Jeg spoler forbi en masse retssager

and a lot of community engagement.

og masser af engagement i området.

Mayor Bloomberg came in office, he was very supportive,

Borgmester Bloomberg blev valgt og han var meget støttende,

but we still had to make the economic case.

men vi skulle stadig have et økonomisk argument.

This was after 9/11;

Det var efter 9/11;

the city was in tough times.

byen havde det svært.

So we commissioned an economic feasibility study

Vi gennemførte en økonomisk gennemførligheds undersøgelse

to try to make the case.

for at få bygget en sag.

And it turns out, we got those numbers wrong.

Det viste sig, vi tog fejl hvad angår tallene.

We thought it would cost 100 million dollars to build.

Vi troede det ville koste 100 millioner dollard at bygge.

So far it's cost about 150 million.

Indtil videre har det kostet 150 millioner.

And the main case was,

Vores argument var,

this is going to make good economic sense for the city.

det giver god økonomisk mening for byen.

So we said over a 20-year time period,

Vi sagde at over en 20-årig periode,

the value to the city in increased property values

vil værdien af de forøgede ejendoms værdier

and increased taxes

og forøgede skatter

would be about 250 million.

blive til 250 millioner.

That was enough. It really got the city behind it.

Det var nok. Det fik byen bag os.

It turns out we were wrong on that.

Det viste sig vi også tog fejl der.

Now people estimate it's created about a half a billion dollars,

Nu siger folk det har skabt en halv millard dollars,

or will create about a half a billion dollars,

eller det vil skabe en halv milliard dollars.

in tax revenues for the city.

i skattepenge til byen.

We did a design competition,

Vi lavede en design koncurrence,

selected a design team.

valgte et hold.

We worked with them to really create a design

Vi arbejde med dem for at skabe et design

that was inspired by that wildscape.

der var inspireret af den vilde natur.

There's three sections.

Der er tre sektioner.

We opened the fist section in 2009.

Vi åbnede den første sektion i 2009.

It's been successful beyond our dreams.

Det har været mere succesfuldt end vi har turde håbe på.

Last year we had about two million people,

Sidste år besøgte ca. 2 millioner mennesker,

which is about 10 times what we ever estimated.

hvilket er 10 gange så mange som vi havde regnet med.

This is one of my favorite features in section one.

Det er en af mine yndlings funktioner i første sektion.

It's this amphitheater right over 10th Ave.

Det er et amfiteater lige over 10. Avenue.

And the first section ends at 20th St. right now.

Den første sektion ender ved 20th Street lige nu.

The other thing, it's generated, obviously, a lot of economic value;

Det har skabt massere af økonomisk værdi,

it's also inspired, I think, a lot of great architecture.

det er har også inspireret, synes jeg, massere fantastisk arkitektur.

There's a point, you can stand here

Der er et punkt, du kan stå her

and see buildings by Frank Gehry,

og se bygningerne af Frank Gehry,

Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban,

Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban,

Neil Denari.

Neil Denari.

And the Whitney is moving downtown

Whitney flytter downtown

and is building their new museum right at the base of the High Line.

og bygger deres nye museum ved foden af 'High Line'.

And this has been designed by Renzo Piano.

Det er blevet designet af Renzo Piano.

And they're going to break ground in May.

De starter med byggeriet i Maj.

And we've already started construction on section two.

Vi er allerede startet på anden sektion.

This is one of my favorite features,

Det er en af mine yndlings funktioner,

this flyover where you're eight feet

denne overflyvning hvor du er 2,5 meter

off the surface of the High Line,

over 'High Line's' overflade,

running through a canopy of trees.

igennem træerne trækroner.

The High Line used to be covered in billboards,

'High Line' plejede at være dækket med reklamer,

and so we've taken a playful take

vi valgte at tage en legende tilgang

where, instead of framing advertisements,

hvor, frem for at indramme reklamer

it's going to frame people in views of the city.

kommer det til at indramme folks udsigt over byen.

This was just installed last month.

Rammen blev sat på sidste måned.

And then the last section was going to go around the rail yards,

Den sidste sektion skal gå rundt om jernbaneværftet,

which is the largest undeveloped site

hvilket er det største uudviklede sted

in Manhattan.

i Manhattan.

And the city has planned -- for better or for worse --

Byen har planlagt -- om det er på godt eller ondt --

12 million square-feet of development

1 million kvadratmeter af udvikling

that the High Line is going to ring around.

som 'High Line' skal gå rundt om.

But what really, I think, makes the High Line special

Men hvad der faktisk gør 'High Line' speciel

is the people.

er menneskene.

And honestly, even though I love the designs that we were building,

For at være ærlig, selvom jeg elskede de designs vi byggede,

I was always frightened that I wouldn't really love it,

var jeg altid bange for om jeg virkeligt ville elske det,

because I fell in love with that wildscape --

fordi jeg forelskede mig i vildskaben --

and how could you recreate that magic?

hvordan kan man genskabe den magi?

But what I found

Jeg fandt ud af

is it's in the people and how they use it

det er de mennesker der bruger den

that, to me, makes it so special.

der gør stedet specielt, for mig.

Just one quick example

Et hurtigt eksempel

is I realized right after we opened

er det gik op for mig da vi åbnede

that there were all these people holding hands on the High Line.

at der gik en helt masse mennesker på 'High Line' hånd i hånd.

And I realized New Yorkers don't hold hands;

Det slog mig; New Yorkers holder ikke hånd,

we just don't do that outside.

det gør vi bare ikke udenfor.

But you see that happening on the High Line,

Men det ser du på 'High Line',

and I think that's the power

og det er den effekt

that public space can have

offentligt rum kan have

to transform how people experience their city

på folks opfattelse af deres by

and interact with each other.

og deres interaktioner med hinanden.

Thanks.

Tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)