The High Line in New York transformed a 2.3 km elevated section of railway in Western Manhattan into public park and green space. The High Line now attracts five million visitors a year, and is credited with cutting crime as well as beautifying the neighbourhood.
Now the quest for more green space amid Manhattan's concrete jungle could be headed underground. The Lowline is an ambitious plan to turn a disused trolley terminal into the world's first underground solar-powered park.
A state-of-the-art solar lighting system could be the template for using more subterranean spaces to relax, play, and even grow veggies. According to The Lowline's Robyn Shapiro there are another 13 acres of unused underground space in Manhattan alone.
The Lowline's just launched a Kickstarter campaign to build the Lowline Lab, a prototype public exhibition to see how subterranean recreation and food production could work in practice.
