This newsletter comes out every other Thursday and hopefully provides you with thought-provoking content about the mundane, wacky, and weird. I will be writing until the 75th edition. If you know someone who may enjoy the newsletter, share it with them here.
Visiting Chicago this past week brought back memories from living there 8 years ago. One of the delights of my trip was walking along the completed elevated park called The 606. It is a 2.7 mile trail along a former elevated freight train line.
When I lived in Chicago, the 606 was a highly anticipated urban renewal project. My friends Alex, Dan, and I would sneak up late at night to the construction site and walk the half-completed muddy paths and wonder what it would be like when it was completed. Here is a before and after.
The 606 was inspired by New York’s High Line, which is also on a former rail line. New York’s High Line opened in 2009, and was met with international acclaim. Thirteen years later it has been a resounding success with over 8 million annual visitors.
The High Line's success has led urban planners around the world to start brainstorming ways their cities can get their version of the High Line. An elevated park puts you in a unique position you are both a part of the city and separate.
By their nature of being separated from the road, elevated parks can provide a novel means of getting from one place to another. The 606 is used by dads with strollers, friends walking, bikers, joggers, rollerbladers, and everyone in between. It serves as the connective tissue between two neighborhoods. Traffic averages 3,531 trips every day, and according to a Georgia Tech study, “60 percent of weekday morning and afternoon cyclists are using the 606 for transit, not recreation”.
The High Line however, is primarily a tourist destination that has driven over $2 billion in investment into the surrounding neighborhood. The images below highlight the differences between them. The 606 (on the left) is more of a thoroughfare with lots of greenery, while the High Line (right) is more of a destination.
San Francisco has its own elevated park, called Salesforce Park. Unlike the 606 and the High Line, it sits atop a public transit terminal which links 11 transit systems that connect the city to the region, state, and nation. While the terminals underneath transport people from all over, the park itself is mainly used as a reprieve from the concrete below. The Facebook and Salesforce offices are connected to the park at their 5th floor, so you will often see coworkers taking a walking meeting. However, the park has a playground and many programs that bring in people of all different stripes up to the park.
Since the High Line opened, there have been proposals and projects for elevated parks all over the world. I have focused on the American ones because they are where I have been, but Buenos Aires, Singapore, Osaka, and Seoul are just a few cities that have repurposed old infrastructure into elevated parks. Here is an image of Osaka skyline and their elevated park, which maximizes space by having a shopping mall and parking lot underneath it.
Despite a global pandemic that allowed many to work remotely, people are still moving to cities in droves around the world. A few years ago, we passed the halfway mark of more people living in cities than not. By 2050, over 2 out of 3 people on the globe will live in a city.
Public parks are treasured, but in dense cities new green space can be hard to find which is why many cities are looking upward. The trees and shrubbery provide much needed texture, oxygen and greenery to places that are often overflowing with concrete and glass. Elevated parks are an opportunity to repurpose old infrastructure into a slice of nature and reimagine the way people experience their city.
Quote I’m pondering
"Is your reading and research supplementing your actions or substituting for them? Research is useful until it becomes a form of procrastination”.
Sauce I am enjoying
BBQ mustard by Noble Made. It is made with all natural ingredients and spices with no sugar added. Keto and vegan friendly. This is my go-to addition to chicken, broccoli, and many other veggies.
What I’m reading
“My Twelve Rules for Life” by Russ Roberts
In particular, I liked these (shortened for clarity)
Give up a lot to be at a funeral
You can always find an excuse for not going. Try to go anyway. Attending any funeral is a reminder of what’s important in life. Attending a funeral of someone who touched your life builds gratitude and is a kindness to those left behind.
Don’t take the job that pays the most money
Take the job that uses your skills and that enhances those skills over the job that pays more. And take the job that makes you feel good about what you’re accomplishing for others over the one that doesn’t.
Pic of the week
Our wedding pictures arrived! Here’s the website (password: 061922) if you want to check them out. The past two weeks have been a whirlwind, visiting Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago, Pittsburgh and now back in San Francisco for a two day work trip.