ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Robert Hammond - Friend of the High Line
The co-founder of Friends of the High Line, Robert Hammond helped lead the effort to build an elevated park on an abandoned railway line in Manhattan.

Why you should listen

Robert Hammond is the co-founder and former executive director of Friends of the High Line. He's worked as a consultant for a variety of entrepreneurial endeavors and nonprofits, including the Times Square Alliance, Alliance for the Arts and National Cooperative Bank (NCB).

Hammond is also a self-taught artist. From 2002 to 2005 he served as an Ex-Officio Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was awarded the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in 2009.

More profile about the speaker
Robert Hammond | Speaker | TED.com
TED2011

Robert Hammond: Building a park in the sky

Robert Hammond: Construindo um parque no céu

Filmed:
863,704 views

Nova York planejava derrubar a "High Line", uma estrada de ferro elevada abandonada em Manhattan, quando Robert Hammond e alguns amigos sugeriram: Por que não transformá-la num parque? Ele compartilha como tudo aconteceu em seu conto de ativismo cultural local.
- Friend of the High Line
The co-founder of Friends of the High Line, Robert Hammond helped lead the effort to build an elevated park on an abandoned railway line in Manhattan. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

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The Highline
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A Highline
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is an old, elevated rail line
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é uma antiga linha férrea elevada
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that runs for a mile and a half right through Manhattan.
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que atravessa uns 2.4km de Manhattan.
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And it was originally a freight line
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Era originalmente uma linha de carga
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that ran down 10th Ave.
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que descia a 10th Ave.
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And it became known as "Death Avenue"
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E tornou-se conhecida como "Avenida da Morte"
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because so many people were run over by the trains
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pois tanta gente era atropelada pelos trens
00:31
that the railroad hired a guy on horseback to run in front,
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que a ferrovia contratou um cara para ir a cavalo, na frente,
00:34
and he became known as the "West Side Cowboy."
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e ele tornou-se conhecido como o "West Side Cowboy."
00:36
But even with a cowboy,
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Mas mesmo com um cowboy,
00:38
about one person a month
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cerca de uma pessoa por mês
00:40
was killed and run over.
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morria atropelada.
00:42
So they elevated it.
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Então a elevaram.
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They built it 30 ft. in the air, right through the middle of the city.
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Foi construida a mais de 9m de altura, atravessando o meio da cidade.
00:47
But with the rise of interstate trucking,
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Mas com o aumento do transporte rodoviário interestadual,
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it was used less and less.
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ela era utilizada cada vez menos.
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And by 1980, the last train rode.
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E em 1980, o último trem passou.
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It was a train loaded with frozen turkeys -- they say, at Thanksgiving --
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Um trem carregado de perus congelados -- no dia de Ação de Graças --
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from the meatpacking district.
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vindo do distrito de embalagens de carnes.
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And then it was abandoned.
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E então foi abandonada.
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And I live in the neighborhood,
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Eu moro na vizinhança,
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and I first read about it in the New York Times,
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e li sobre isso, pela primeira vez, no New York Times,
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in an article that said it was going to be demolished.
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num artigo que dizia que ela seria demolida.
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And I assumed someone was working
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E supus que alguém estava trabalhando
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to preserve it or save it
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para preservá-la ou salvá-la
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and I could volunteer,
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e eu poderia ser voluntário,
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but I realized no one was doing anything.
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mas percebi que ninguém estava fazendo nada.
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I went to my first community board meeting --
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Fui a minha primeira reunião do conselho comunitário --
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which I'd never been to one before --
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onde nunca havia estado antes --
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and sat next to another guy named Joshua David,
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e sentei-me próximo a um cara chamado Joshua David,
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who's a travel writer.
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que é um escritor de viagens
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And at the end of the meeting, we realized
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E ao final da reunião, percebemos
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we were the only two people that were sort of interested in the project;
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que éramos as únicas pessoas com algum interesse no projeto;
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most people wanted to tear it down.
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a maioria das pessoas queria derrubá-la.
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So we exchanged business cards,
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Então trocamos cartões,
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and we kept calling each other
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fomos nos comunicando por telefone
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and decided to start this organization,
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e decidimos começar esta organização,
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Friends of the High Line.
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Amigos da "High Line".
01:38
And the goal at first
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E o objetivo a princípio
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was just saving it from demolition,
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era apenas salvá-la da demolição,
01:42
but then we also wanted to figure out what we could do with it.
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mas logo começamos a pensar no que fazer com ela.
01:45
And what first attracted me, or interested me,
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E o que primeiro atraiu-me, ou interessou-me,
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was this view from the street --
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foi esta vista da rua --
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which is this steel structure,
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que é esta estrutura de aço,
01:51
sort of rusty,
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meio enferrujada,
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this industrial relic.
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esta relíquia industrial.
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But when I went up on top,
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Mas quando cheguei lá em cima,
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it was a mile and a half of wildflowers
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eram mais de 2,4 km de flores silvestres
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running right through the middle of Manhattan
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indo até o centro de Manhattan
02:02
with views of the Empire State Building
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com vistas do Empire State Building,
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and the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River.
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da Estátua da Liberdade e do Rio Hudson.
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And that's really where we started,
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E foi lá onde realmente começamos,
02:08
the idea coalesced around, let's make this a park,
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a ideia se espalhou, vamos fazer disso um parque,
02:11
and let's have it be sort of inspired
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e vamos fazê-lo inspirado
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by this wildscape.
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nessa paisagem nativa.
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At the time, there was a lot of opposition.
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Na época, houve muita oposição.
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Mayor Giuliani wanted to tear it down.
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O prefeito Giuliani queria demoli-la.
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I'm going to fast-forward through a lot of lawsuits
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Resumindo, foram muitas ações judiciais
02:22
and a lot of community engagement.
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e muito envolvimento da comunidade.
02:25
Mayor Bloomberg came in office, he was very supportive,
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O prefeito Bloomberg foi ao nosso escritório, nos apoiou muito,
02:28
but we still had to make the economic case.
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mas ainda tínhamos que cuidar da parte econômica.
02:30
This was after 9/11;
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Foi depois de 11/9;
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the city was in tough times.
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a cidade vivia dias difíceis.
02:34
So we commissioned an economic feasibility study
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Então fizemos um estudo de viabilidade econômica
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to try to make the case.
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para tentar defender a causa.
02:38
And it turns out, we got those numbers wrong.
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E aconteceu de termos feito essa conta errada.
02:40
We thought it would cost 100 million dollars to build.
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Pensamos que a construção custaria 100 milhões de dólares.
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So far it's cost about 150 million.
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Custou até o momento uns 150 milhões.
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And the main case was,
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Mas a questão principal era,
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this is going to make good economic sense for the city.
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isto trará bons ganhos econômicos para a cidade.
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So we said over a 20-year time period,
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Então dissemos que num prazo de 20 anos,
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the value to the city in increased property values
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a quantia para a cidade em maior valorização dos imóveis
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and increased taxes
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e maior arrecadação de impostos
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would be about 250 million.
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seria de aproximadamente 250 milhões.
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That was enough. It really got the city behind it.
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Foi o suficiente. Foi o fim da oposição.
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It turns out we were wrong on that.
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Acontece que nos equivocamos nisso.
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Now people estimate it's created about a half a billion dollars,
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Agora estimam que ela gerou perto de meio bilhão de dólares,
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or will create about a half a billion dollars,
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ou gerará cerca de meio bilhão de dólares,
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in tax revenues for the city.
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em impostos revertidos para a cidade.
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We did a design competition,
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Fizemos um concurso de design,
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selected a design team.
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selecionamos uma equipe.
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We worked with them to really create a design
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Trabalhamos com eles para realmente criar um projeto
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that was inspired by that wildscape.
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que fosse inspirado naquela paisagem natural.
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There's three sections.
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Há três seções.
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We opened the fist section in 2009.
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Inauguramos a primeira seção em 2009.
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It's been successful beyond our dreams.
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O sucesso superou nossos sonhos.
03:27
Last year we had about two million people,
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Ano passado tivemos uns dois milhões de pessoas,
03:29
which is about 10 times what we ever estimated.
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umas 10 vezes mais do que havíamos estimado.
03:32
This is one of my favorite features in section one.
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Este é um dos meus locais favoritos na seção um.
03:35
It's this amphitheater right over 10th Ave.
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É este anfiteatro bem acima da 10th Ave.
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And the first section ends at 20th St. right now.
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E atualmente a primeira seção termina na 20th St.
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The other thing, it's generated, obviously, a lot of economic value;
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Outra coisa, tem gerado, obviamente, maior valor econômico;
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it's also inspired, I think, a lot of great architecture.
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tem também inspirado muita arquitetura de qualidade.
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There's a point, you can stand here
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Há um ponto onde você pode ficar aqui
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and see buildings by Frank Gehry,
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e ver prédios de Frank Gehry,
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Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban,
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Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban,
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Neil Denari.
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Neil Denari.
03:55
And the Whitney is moving downtown
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E o Whitney está se mudando para o centro
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and is building their new museum right at the base of the High Line.
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e construindo seu novo museu bem na base da High Line.
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And this has been designed by Renzo Piano.
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e este foi projetado por Renzo Piano.
04:03
And they're going to break ground in May.
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E vão começar a escavar o solo em maio.
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And we've already started construction on section two.
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E já começamos a construir na seção dois.
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This is one of my favorite features,
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Este é um dos meus locais favoritos,
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this flyover where you're eight feet
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esta passarela onde ficamos a uns 2,5m
04:12
off the surface of the High Line,
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acima da superfície da High Line,
04:14
running through a canopy of trees.
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passando pela copa das árvores.
04:16
The High Line used to be covered in billboards,
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A High Line costumava estar coberta por letreiros,
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and so we've taken a playful take
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então fizemos algo divertido
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where, instead of framing advertisements,
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onde, em vez de anúncios emoldurados,
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it's going to frame people in views of the city.
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haverá molduras de pessoas em paisagens da cidade.
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This was just installed last month.
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Esta acabou de ser instalada no mês passado.
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And then the last section was going to go around the rail yards,
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e a última seção passaria em volta dos pátios ferroviários,
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which is the largest undeveloped site
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que é a maior área não desenvolvida
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in Manhattan.
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em Manhattan.
04:36
And the city has planned -- for better or for worse --
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E a cidade planejou -- bem ou mal --
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12 million square-feet of development
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mais de 1 milhão de m² de desenvolvimento
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that the High Line is going to ring around.
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que a High Line irá circundar.
04:43
But what really, I think, makes the High Line special
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Mas o que realmente penso que faz a High Line especial
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is the people.
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são as pessoas.
04:47
And honestly, even though I love the designs that we were building,
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E honestamente, mesmo adorando os projetos que construimos,
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I was always frightened that I wouldn't really love it,
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sempre receei que não fosse realmente amá-la,
04:53
because I fell in love with that wildscape --
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pois eu era apaixonado por aquela paisagem nativa --
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and how could you recreate that magic?
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e como poderíamos recriar aquela magia?
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But what I found
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Mas o que descobri
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is it's in the people and how they use it
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é que ela está nas pessoas, e em como elas a utilizam
05:01
that, to me, makes it so special.
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que, para mim, faz tudo tão especial.
05:03
Just one quick example
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Um rápido exemplo
05:05
is I realized right after we opened
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é eu percebi logo que inauguramos
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that there were all these people holding hands on the High Line.
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que havia toda essa gente de mãos dadas na High Line.
05:10
And I realized New Yorkers don't hold hands;
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E percebi que os novaiorquinos não dão as mãos;
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we just don't do that outside.
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simplesmente não o fazemos em público.
05:16
But you see that happening on the High Line,
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Mas você vê isso acontecendo na High Line,
05:18
and I think that's the power
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e penso que é o poder
05:20
that public space can have
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que o espaço público pode ter
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to transform how people experience their city
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de transformar como as pessoas experienciam sua cidade
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and interact with each other.
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e interagem umas com as outras.
05:26
Thanks.
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Obrigado.
05:28
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Viviane Ferraz Matos
Reviewed by Andrea Rojas

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Robert Hammond - Friend of the High Line
The co-founder of Friends of the High Line, Robert Hammond helped lead the effort to build an elevated park on an abandoned railway line in Manhattan.

Why you should listen

Robert Hammond is the co-founder and former executive director of Friends of the High Line. He's worked as a consultant for a variety of entrepreneurial endeavors and nonprofits, including the Times Square Alliance, Alliance for the Arts and National Cooperative Bank (NCB).

Hammond is also a self-taught artist. From 2002 to 2005 he served as an Ex-Officio Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was awarded the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in 2009.

More profile about the speaker
Robert Hammond | Speaker | TED.com

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