This type of a park has become more popular in the early 21st century, featuring in a number of urban renewal projects.
[5][9][10] One of the earliest of such parks was the Promenade plantée (Coulée verte René-Dumont) in Paris, dating to 1993.
[11] It has proven popular enough to encourage other cities to consider similar projects, a process that gained further momentum after the success of the High Line, the first such park in the United States, which opened in 2009.
[17][15] Elevated parks have been criticized for high costs, though they have generally attracted positive reviews, including from academia.
[17] In 2016, a public referendum to convert Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct into an elevated park, inspired by the High Line, was strongly rejected by voters.