Madeline Macdonald

she/her
High Line Network Coordinator,
High Line
—
Madeline (Maddy) Macdonald is the Coordinator of the High Line Network, an initiative of Friends of the High Line. The Network’s mission is to support infrastructure reuse projects across North America in creating vibrant public spaces that center local communities, build civic connections, support environmental resilience, and foster equitable community development. Maddy is experienced with research, content strategy, and curriculum design that raise the profile of intersectional issues of biodiversity, climate, and community resilience in the built environment, and provide tools for action. In her past roles, Maddy managed a series of special projects—documentaries, toolkits, workshops, and a learning hub—in collaboration with the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to mainstream global biodiversity targets through conservation and design sector partnerships. These projects were featured at the World Biodiversity Forum (2020, 2021), Cooper Hewitt Design Museum Nature Triennial (2018), and several North American design weeks. Maddy received her B.Com from Queen’s University Smith School of Business, and an M.A. in Global Thought from Columbia University. Her Graduate thesis, Elevated Purpose: Equitable Placemaking Considerations for Exporting Manhattan’s High Line, explores the global infrastructure reuse movement and questions how to avoid green-gentrification when addressing the systemic impacts of redlining.

Breakout panelist