In one of his final acts as mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani signed an order allowing the demolition of the High Line, that beloved ruin of an elevated railway that wound its way along the west side of Manhattan. Everyone who had managed to climb up onto the High Line loved it: the wildflowers growing along the abandoned tracks, the birds following the route north in spring and then south again in autumn; that rural feeling flowing magically through the city like a spontaneous river. Who didn’t love the High Line? Those who owned the land beneath it and longed to build high-rise developments on the site, if only the High Line weren’t standing in their way. And so, when Giuliani signed the order, Friends of the High Line, the small community organization led by Robert Hammond and Joshua David, took legal action, seeking an injunction.
 
For more than a year, Joel Sternfeld had already been photographing this hidden gem through every season, so that New Yorkers could climb up visually and experience it too. In October 2001, while the ruins of the World Trade Center were still smoldering, Gerhard Steidl accepted Sternfeld’s urgent request to make a book and flew to New York. Together they designed Walking the High Line, and just seven weeks later it was delivered, offering a vision for the highly successful park that today welcomes more than two million visitors each year.
 
Now published in a new edition with nine additional photographs, a larger format, and an updated timeline, this is the book that made it possible to walk the High Line.