High Level Line

The High Level Line in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is a pedestrian oriented corridor that incorporates multiple transportation options, new mixed-use and event spaces and contemporary naturalistic planting design. The site connects destinations between downtown and Whyte Avenue with historic street cars, biking infrastructure and pedestrian paths in bold colours. The line  re-purposes existing infrastructure and underutilized land to create highly functional spaces for living, working and recreation. The High Line in Manhattan, a sister project, has demonstrated that excellent place-making can be economic, regenerative and a place people want to be. The High Level Line acknowledges, values and incorporates the innumerable benefits of plants and a place people want to be. The High Level Line acknowledges, values and incorporates the innumerable benefits of plants and of contemporary naturalistic planting design thereby mitigating some effects of climate change. Increasing urbanization means many people have reduced contact or no contact with natural landscapes and their ecologies. This project incorporates the latter two together and does away with tired 18th-century planting design and its limitations. The inspiration guiding the High Level Line’s planting design is three Alberta landscapes: meadows, dry meadows/badlands and agricultural scrub-lands. Planting design in this project has been informed by the work of renowned planting designers — in particular, Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury. The   High Level Line is four kilometres in length and included five focus zones — two of these are depicted in this submission