In the early 2000s, an abandoned rail line in Manhattan sat decaying – a memory from a time when freight trains traveled straight through the city. To most citizens, it was a site destined for demolition. However, a few visionary residents saw an opportunity in this neglected space and advocated to transform it into a public green space for the community. The success of the project seemed to spark a “High Line Effect”, inspiring other American cities to pursue civic infrastructure on outdated railways, roadways, and industrial sites.
Across the United States, cities are reimagining and reinvigorating abandoned infrastructure. Parks and community spaces built on derelict sites have the potential to drive economic revitalization in neighborhoods. The High Line in New York City celebrated for its recreation of natural habitats within the city’s landscape, was one of the earliest and most high-profile examples of transforming abandoned infrastructure into a public space in this manner.
The High Line’s immense popularity, however, also contributed to rapid gentrification and displacement in the surrounding neighborhoods like Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen. Real estate values boomed, pricing out many longtime residents and businesses. While it brought economic benefits, the impacts were not equitably shared with the existing community. Across the United States, this sort of infrastructural displacement disproportionately devastated Black, Latino, Native American, and Asian neighborhoods. As infrastructure reuse projects move forward, equity must be at the forefront to prevent further harm to marginalized groups.
Related Article
Public Spaces and Their Key Role in Building Climate Resilience in the US.
While resulting from the “High Line Effect”, many projects across the United States are addressing underutilized spaces through an equity-led lens:
The Underline – Miami, FL
Inspired by the High Line, Miami is embarking on a plan to transform the land below its Metrorail system into a 10-mile linear park and urban trail. Dubbed The Underline, the 120-acre green space will serve as a “social and civic spine” connecting several distinct neighborhoods across the city when completed in 2026.
The Underline’s developers have made equity and community engagement central priorities, designing the landscaping, amenities, art installations, and programming to honor the identities of local communities. Outreach efforts like quarterly meetings and partnerships with neighborhood organizations ensure that the design echoes resident voices and creates spaces relevant to their needs and cultures. The Underline team recognizes the risk of green gentrification displacing vulnerable populations, so they are exploring strategies like land trusts to preserve affordable housing along the corridor.
Buffalo Bayou – Houston, TX
In Houston, the Buffalo Bayou Partnership reimagines the city’s relationship to its primary waterway to connect long-divided communities. For decades, the Buffalo Bayou was treated as a drainage ditch, lined with concrete, and turned into a physical barrier between neighborhoods like the historic African-American community of Fifth Ward and wealthier areas downtown. Through its green spaces and pedestrian bridges, the $58 million Buffalo Bayou Park has helped stitch these areas back together while providing much-needed parkland and hike and bike trails.
The project employed a racial equity lens, conducting targeted outreach and forming a community advisory board to ensure the park reflected local cultures and needs. It has prioritized workforce training and construction job opportunities for nearby minority communities. While gentrification pressures remain, the Buffalo Bayou plan has focused on developing affordable housing, supporting minority-owned businesses, and improving infrastructure to uplift underserved neighborhoods rather than displace them.
The Rail Park – Philadelphia, PA
The ambitiously planned 3-mile linear “Rail Park” and recreation trail is being constructed atop abandoned elevated rail lines that once transported freight through some of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods. When completed, the Rail Park will physically connect communities like Chinatown and Callowhill that have been historically divided by the viaduct’s hulking presence.
The first phase opened in 2018 after an extensive community engagement process that shaped the design around principles of celebrating local cultures, maintaining industrial character, and providing flexible spaces for gathering and public programming. Project leaders at the Friends of the Rail Park nonprofit have made concerted efforts to counteract gentrification and displacement pressures through strategies like contributing to a community land trust to preserve affordable housing stock. They are also exploring “value capture” policies to ensure longtime residents and businesses equitably benefit from the neighborhood’s revitalization spurred by the Rail Park.
11th Street Bridge Park – Washington, DC
The 11th Street Bridge Park in Washington, DC provides a model for baking in strategies to prevent displacement from the outset. The planned park will transform an obsolete freeway bridge into an elevated public space with gardens, performance venues, and recreational areas connecting the diverse neighborhoods of Capitol Hill and Anacostia.
Right from the start, the park’s developers prioritized community engagement and an “equitable development plan” to ensure the $60 million project benefits existing residents. This includes a community land trust to acquire properties and maintain affordable housing units, as well as partnerships with local nonprofit groups to provide job training, small business support, and youth programs. There are firm targets for affordable housing preservation, local hiring, and contracting equity written into the construction plans. The project has facilitated a community-driven process to celebrate the area’s rich cultural heritage through public art, historical exhibits, and events. By centering equity from the start, the 11th Street Bridge Park aims to create a true civic amenity without displacing the very people who should be able to enjoy it.
Designing for Equity
When done with genuine community engagement, transforming underutilized infrastructure into public spaces can be an opportunity to repair economic and social injustices. Organizations involved in these infrastructure reuse projects have an imperative to prioritize equity and put community needs first from the earliest planning stages through construction and operations. This requires reckoning with the harms caused by decades of disinvestment, discriminatory policies, and displacement. By understanding this history and centering the voices of impacted communities, public space planners can direct resources intentionally to create spaces that are truly civic connectors.
Embedding equity must be an intentional process driven by clear goals and measurable outcomes. Public space organizations should establish metrics tied to employment and economic opportunity, affordable housing, neighborhood connectivity, health and well-being, cultural preservation, and demographic diversity.
