I've received some questions in another forum about my Race Street Pier post. Anyone interested in these elevated linear civic spaces should read Witold Rybcynski's recent piece in the New York Times, Bringing the High Line Back to Earth.  That might clear up a few things. He's saying that the High Line succeeds because it is surrounded by interesting buildings and apartment dwellers and is expensively designed and detailed. (Andrés Duany of DPZ called Manhattan residents "sod-starved," and the new sod appears to be well-used already, as shown in this High Line Expansion post by Cheryl Yau.) I'll address the issues of the spatial aspects of this particular civic space more in my next Friday Frontage post.