My dream is to build the world's first underground park in New York City.
我的梦想是在纽约建造世界上第一个地下公园。
Now, why would someone want to build an underground park, and why in New York City?
为什么会有人想建地下公园，并且是建在纽约呢？
These three tough little buggers are, on the left, my grandmother, age five, and then her sister and brother, ages 11 and nine.
这三个结实的小家伙分别是：左边的，我奶奶，5岁，然后是她的姐姐和哥哥，他们分别11岁和9岁。
This photo was taken just before they left from Italy to immigrate to the United States, just about a century ago.
这张照片是在他们离开意大利移民到美国时照的，大概是在一个世纪以前。
And like many immigrants at the time,
就像当时的许多移民一样，
they arrived on the Lower East Side in New York City and they encountered a crazy melting pot.
他们抵达了纽约市的下东区，他们遇到了一个种族大熔炉。
What was amazing about their generation was that they were not only building new lives in this new, unfamiliar area,
他们那一代令人惊讶之处在于，他们不仅是在这块崭新的、陌生的地区建立新生活，
but they were also literally building the city.
而且事实上他们也在建设这座城市。
I've always been fascinated by those decades and by that history,
我一直对那几十年那段历史心驰神往，
and I would often beg my grandmother to tell me as many stories as possible about the old New York.
我常常请求我的祖母给我尽可能多讲讲旧纽约的故事。
But she would often just shrug it off, tell me to eat more meatballs, more pasta,
但是她常常只是耸耸肩，告诉我多吃肉丸和意大利面，
and so I very rarely got any of the history that I wanted to hear about.
因此我很少能得到任何那段我想要了解的历史信息。
The New York City that I encountered felt pretty built up.
我所遇到的这座纽约城已经完全建好。
I always knew as a kid that I wanted to make a difference,
在我还小的时候，我就知道我想要让这个世界变得不同，
and to somehow make the world more beautiful, more interesting and more just.
并以某种方法使得这个世界更美丽、更有趣、更公正。
I just didn't really know how. At first, I thought I wanted to go work abroad, so I took a job with UNICEF in Kenya.
我只是不知道如何去实现它。一开始我觉得我想要到国外去工作，所以我在联合国儿童基金会找了一个去肯尼亚的工作。
But it felt weird to me that I knew more about local Kenyan politics than the politics of my own hometown.
让我觉得不可思议的是，我对肯尼亚当地政治要比对自己家乡的政治更了解。
I took a job with the City of New York, but very quickly felt frustrated with the slowness of government bureaucracy.
我在纽约市谋了一份工作，但是很快就对政府官僚主义的缓慢作风感到沮丧。
I even took a job at Google, where very fast I drank the Kool-Aid
我甚至在谷歌谋得了一份工作，在那里我很快就随波逐流了，
and believed almost wholeheartedly that technology could solve all social problems.
并且几乎完全相信科技可以解决所有的社会问题。
But I still didn't feel like I was making the world a better place.
但我仍然不觉得我正在使这个世界变得更好。
It was in 2009 that my friend and now business partner James Ramsey alerted me to the location of a pretty spectacular site, which is this.
2009年，我的朋友兼现在的商业伙伴詹姆斯·拉姆齐，使我留意到了一个非常壮观的景点，就是这个。
This is the former trolley terminal that was the depot for passengers traveling over the Williamsburg Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan,
这是一个从前的电车站，是一个为那些穿过威廉斯堡大桥、从布鲁克林到曼哈顿的乘客所使用的车站，
and it was open between 1908 and 1948, just around the time when my grandparents were living right in the area.
它在1908年至1948年间运营，刚好差不多是我的祖父母也生活在这个区域的时间。
And we learned also that the site was entirely abandoned in 1948.
我们还了解到这个车站在1948年被彻底地废弃了。
Fascinated by this discovery, we begged the authorities to draw us into the space,
由于被这个发现深深地吸引了，我们请求官方让我们进入这里，
and we finally got a tour, and this is what we saw.
并且最终我们成行了，这就是我们当时所看到的。
Now, this photo doesn't really do it justice.
这张照片并不能真实地反映当时的情况。
It's kind of hard to imagine the unbelievably magical feeling that you have when you get in this space.
你很难想象那种当你进入这个空间时所获得的难以置信的神奇感受。
It's a football field of unused land immediately below a very crowded area of the city,
它直接位于城市最拥挤的区域之下，是一块足球场大小的闲置用地，
and it almost feels like you're Indiana Jones on an archaeological dig,
身处其中，感觉自己就像是考古现场的印第安纳·琼斯，
and all the details are all still there. It's really pretty remarkable.
所有的细节都还全部保留在那里。这真的是非同寻常。
Now, the site itself is located at the very heart of the Lower East Side,
现在，这个地方位于下东区，非常核心的区域，
and today it still remains one of the most crowded neighborhoods in the city.
并且今天它仍然是这座城市最拥挤的社区之一。

New York City has two thirds the green space per resident as other big cities, and this neighborhood as one tenth the green space.
纽约的人均绿色空间是其它大城市的三分之二，而这个社区更是只有十分之一。
So we immediately started thinking about how we could take this site
所以我们马上开始思考我们可以怎样利用这个地方，
and turn it into something that could be used for the public, but also could potentially even be green.
并将它变成能够为公众所用的东西，甚至有可能变成绿地。
Our plan, in a nutshell, is to draw natural sunlight underground using a simple system that harvests sunlight above the street,
我们的计划，简而言之，就是将自然光引入地下，使用一个简单的系统收集街上的阳光，
directs it below the city sidewalks, and would allow plants and trees to grow with the light that's directed underneath.
然后将它导入城市人行道的地下，并且利用这些导入地下的阳光来种植花草树木。
With this approach, you could take a site that looks like this today and transform it into something that looks like this.
通过这种方法，你可以将一个现在看起来是这个样子的地方，变成看起来像这样的地方。
In 2011, we first released some of these images, and what was funny was,
2011年，我们首次发布了这些设计图中的一部分，有趣的是，
a lot of people said to us, "Oh, it kind of looks like the High Line underground."
很多人对我们：“哇，它看起来有点像是地下的空中花园。”
And so what our nickname ended up becoming, and what ended up sticking, was the Lowline, so the Lowline was born.
这就是我们的昵称的由来，并且我们最终决定用这个名称，地下花园。地下花园就这样诞生了。
What was also clear was that people really wanted to know a lot more about how the technology would look and feel,
还有一点也很清楚，人们真的想更加了解这项技术是如何表现的，
and that there was really much more interest in this than we had ever thought possible.
这比我们之前可能想像的要有趣得多。
So, like a crazy person, I decided to quit my job and focus entirely on this project.
因此，就像个疯子一样，我决定辞职，并且完全投入到这个项目中去。
Here is us with our team putting together a technology demonstration in a warehouse.
这是我们和我们的团队一起在一个仓库举行的技术展示。
Here's the underbelly of this solar canopy which we built to show the technology.
这个是太阳能天篷的下部，我们用以展示这项技术。
You can see the six solar collectors at the center there.
你可以看到，在它中间有六个太阳能收集器。
And here's the full exhibit all put together in this warehouse.
这将所有的东西组装在一起，然后在这个仓库里展示。
You can see the solar canopy overhead, the light streaming in, and this entirely live green space below.
你可以看到天花板上的太阳能天篷，阳光倾泄而下，这完完全全是一个地下的绿色空间。
So in the course of just a few weeks, tens of thousands of people came to see our exhibit, and since that time,
所以在短短几周之内，成千上万的人过来看我们的展览，并且从那时开始，
we've grown our numbers of supporters both locally and among design enthusiasts all over the world.
我们的支持者--有本地的，还有世界各地的设计爱好者，数量都不断增长。
Here's a rendering of the neighborhood just immediately above the Line's site,
这个是地下花园正上方社区的效果图，
and a rendering of how it will look after major redevelopment that is coming over the course of the next 10 years.
以及在接下来的十年里当主要重建完成以后的效果图。
Notice how crowded the neighborhood still feels and how there's really a lack of green space.
请注意，这个社区看起来仍然十分拥挤，这里十分缺少绿色空间。
So what we're proposing is really something that will add one football field of green space underneath this neighborhood,
所以我们的提议就是在这个社区的地下增加一个足球场大小的绿色空间，
but more importantly will introduce a really community-driven focus in a rapidly gentrifying area.
但更重要是在一个迅速富裕的区域引进一个真正社区主导的中心。
And right now, we're focusing very closely on how we engage with the City of New York
现在，我们正密切地聚焦在如何与纽约市政府合作，
on really transforming the overall ecosystem in an integrated way.
用一个综合的方式真正改变整个生态系统。
Here's our rendering of how we would actually invite people into the space itself.
这里展示了我们将会如何邀请人们进入这个空间。
So here you see this iconic entrance in which we would literally peel up the street and reveal the historical layers of the city,
你可以看到这个标志性的入口，准确地说，我们把这个街面掀开，将这个城市的历史层次揭示出来，
and invite people into this warm underground space.
邀请民众进入这个温暖的地下空间。
In the middle of winter, when it's absolutely freezing outside,
隆冬时节，当外面已经非常寒冷时，
the last place you'd want to go would be an outdoor space or outdoor park.
你最不想去的地方可能就是室外或者公园。
The Lowline would really be a four-season space and a respite for the city.
地下花园将会真正成为一个四季皆宜的空间，成为这个城市的缓解区域。
So I like to think that the Lowline actually brings my own family's story full circle.
所以我想，地下花园实际上让我的家族故事有了一个完整的循环。
If my grandparents and my parents were really focused on building the city up and out,
如果说我的祖父母和父母那一辈是真正的专注于构建这座城市，
I think my generation is focused on reclaiming the spaces that we already have, rediscovering our shared history,
那么我想我们这一代人正专注于改造我们已有的空间，重新发现我们共同的历史，
and reimagining how we can make our communities more interesting, more beautiful and more just. Thanks.
以及重新思考我们怎样才能使我们的社区更有趣、更漂亮、更公正。谢谢。