Few of the worlds many city attractions blur the lines between tourists and locals quite like New York’s High Line. It’s a place that turned mundane street level commutes into sweeping city views with unique installations, and for that reason, it’s become a massive hit with travellers as well. Now, London is about to get its own version, “The Tide” in Greenwich.
The Tide is a new raised walkway and development in the Greenwich Peninsula of London which will open its first of five kilometres on July 5th. Think of it as you would the High Line in New York, as a perfect riverside park and meeting place for the future with walkways, wellness stations, roving art installations and more.
When it’s finished it will be twice the length of the High Line and will usher in a new era for the Peninsula with the creation of up to 30,000 new jobs – and a design district to boot. It’ll also connect the area with the legendary 02 entertainment venue like never before.
Oh, and when we said roving art installations…
This is a park firmly planted in cultural exploration, and when we say free to view art installations, we’re talking about art from British icons Damien Hirst and Allen Jones, who are two leading stewards of the project. Jones contributed an 8m permanent red sculpture to The Tides dubbed “Head In The Wind”, which is worth the trip alone.
The park has been designed in collaboration with firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, co creators of the High Line, and created to reflect the ebb and flow of the river tides. To kick things off, the park will feature a three day opening festival from July 5-7th, with live music, art, film, wellness, food stations and more. It’s free and open to the public.
With Wimbledon tennis and World Cup Cricket, London visitors were always going to be spoiled this summer, but the opening of this iconic new Greenwich park takes things to a new level. Unless a wild new idea is unveiled elsewhere, this really could be the best new city attraction in the world for 2019.
The busier cities become, the more important it is to find and protect open space for all to enjoy, and whatever your interest in life, it’s safe to say this park will cover just about everything, with room to move around. One day, Hyde Park may need to do something to keep up. For now, July 5th can’t come soon enough!
