Video: Robert Hammond
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Filmed on: October 15, 2010
About this
video
Once a rusted, dilapidated eyesore and now one of the
most highly praised green spaces in the world, the High Line is a
public park built atop an abandoned elevated rail line on Manhattan’s
west side. Robert Hammond, executive director of Friends of the High
Line, discusses how design helped raise $170 million dollars to save the
historic structure from demolition, create the most inventive public
park in New York City, and transform the way that planners and
governments around the world think about revitalization and public
space.
Speaker bio
Robert Hammond is executive director of Friends of the High Line,
the nonprofit conservancy that manages the High Line. Hammond
co-founded Friends of the High Line with Joshua David in 1999. Together
they worked with the City of New York to save the High Line from
demolition. Friends of the High Line has raised more than $170 million
in public and private funding and manages the park under a licensing
agreement with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.
Before the High Line, Hammond helped start several businesses and
consulted with nonprofit organizations. He was awarded a 2010 Rome Prize
from the American Academy in Rome. He is a self-taught artist, and
served as an ex-officio member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Board
of Trustees from 2002 to 2005. Hammond graduated from Princeton
University in 1993.