Camden Highline Pauses

This week's unfortunate news comes nine years after we first learned about the efforts to emulate New York's famous High Line and turn a nearly one-mile stretch of railway in London's borough of Camden into a green space. The plans for a temporary park unveiled in May 2017 came to nothing, but the project was resurrected four years later, when Field Operations—the firm responsible the High Line—was selected to design a permanent park on the viaduct. At that time, Camden Highline, the charity created to carry out the project, said “the project is technically and financially possible, the cost is an achievable amount to raise, and there is a viable business model.” Things were looking up the last time we checked in, in early 2023, when the project received its first planning approval and the project team—vPPR and Piet Oudolf, in addition to Field Operations—was moving forward with their design.

According to Camden Highline, the project has fostered “a community support network that brought together residents, businesses, volunteers, funders, landowners, and designers” over the last ten years. Additionally, through the “Tracking the Heritage” program, “local young people have helped uncover and share Camden’s industrial past, creating walking tours, school workshops, and a physical heritage trail for Camden Town.” Accordingly, the trustees see the project as “not lost,” even though it is paused indefinitely. Trustee chair Richard Terry said in a statement, “The planning, creativity and imagination that brought the Camden Highline this far will be carefully preserved by the trustees, so that whether it is us or others who one day pick up the mantle again, the project’s achievements can be carried forward for the future.”