Following it’s opening in 2009, urban planners all over the world have been keen on acquiring their own versions of New York’s much-lauded High Line. Sydney is the latest city to enter the fray, selecting a 500-meter stretch of abandoned railway as a foundation for the Goods Line, an urban park and public space, replete with bike paths, study pods and outdoor workspaces catering to local students.
The construction is a two stage process. Work on the Northern phase will commence this month and connect the Powerhouse Museum to Frank Gehry’s confusingly named and fairly unpleasant addition to the UTS campus, the Chau Chak Wing Building. The second portion will reshape an existing pedestrian walkway and is set to begin following the projected November 2014 completion date of Goods Line North.
The project arrives with a promotional video, offering a sleek fly-through of the space as the requisite techno soundtrack pulsates gently in the background. The Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority is leading the initiative, working to realize a design by ASPECT Studios and Choi Ropiha Fighera(CHROFI). A feasibility study regarding potential further extension is currently underway as the team mulls the possibility of continuing the Goods Line into other portions of Sydney’s Cultural Ribbon.