Why do we love the high line? A case study of understanding long-term user experiences of urban greenways

Abstract

Abstract The High Line park (HLP) in New York City is one of the most successful contemporary greenway parks, inspiring urban planners, designers, artists, and administrators worldwide. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of user experiences in a long-term time frame (2011–2018) through the lens of online reviews. Using a mixed-methods approach, we conducted Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling to quantitatively identify the key topics that represent 34,060 reviews and 30,285 users, followed by qualitative analysis to inductively interpret the LDA topics. The results identified experiential, programmatic and physical elements of the HLP that are meaningful to users. Three primary components were found that make HLP successful according to users: spectacular visual and activity-related experiences, the historical transformation and cultural exploration, and the added value from park services ranging from amenities to on-site living performance. The article helps inform future decision-making and planning & design practices for future greenway projects.

Keywords

• Urban greenway
• The High Line
• Online review
• Topic modelling
• User experience