Video

Video still from our version of Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" in honor of our outgoing Chief Operating Officer Melissa Fisher.

Yes, we know summer is over. And yes, we know we are late to the game. We just couldn't resist letting this opportunity pass us by. Recreating Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" with our staff at Friends of the High Line was the perfect send-off for Melissa Fisher, our outgoing Chief Operating Officer, who ends her 4.5-year tenure at the High Line next week.

Follow us after the jump to watch our fabulous version of the song. Be sure to watch out for the cameo by our always-inspiring Co-Founders Joshua David and Robert Hammond toward the middle of the video!

Plans are in the works to turn New Orleans’ Lafitte Corridor into public open space. Photo by Jackson Hill Photography

Leaders and thinkers in Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and other cities are pioneering adaptive reuse projects, and they’re pointing to the High Line as an example of how to make it work.

Some call them copycat projects, but their approach is more nuanced. They are taking inspiration from the unique context and history in their own neighborhoods and finding ways to use it to their advantage as they reinvent and open old infrastructure and out-of-use spaces to the public.

You can find good examples of this type of creative thinking in New Orleans, where designers, grassroots organizations, and civic leaders are joining together to pursue new green adaptive reuse projects that coexist with water.

Follow us after to watch the video and view photos from a talk on the High Line earlier this month about the Crescent City.

Young volunteers painting a mural on the side of a commercial building in downtown Detroit. Photo by David Schalliol.

Long recognized as one of the country’s most challenged urban centers, Detroit is now undergoing an important renaissance, with new real estate investment, the return of local businesses from the suburbs, and a growing downtown office market. What role does public space play in the city’s revitalization?

What would Jane Jacobs think about the High Line? How can you re-create the success of the High Line in other places around the world? How does the High Line benefit New York City?