Across the Sydney CBD and inner city suburbs, urban renewal projects are revitalising pedestrian areas, public spaces and disused industrial zones. Amongst these larger developments nestle smaller rejuvenation projects, such as The Goods Line, that bring focused attention and renewed vitality to pockets of neglected space in a bid for a greener, more connected and increasingly liveable city.

The Goods Line is a NSW Government initiative spearheaded by Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and designed and executed by ASPECT Studios with design partners CHROFI. The project has seen a derelict railway corridor, closed to the public for more than 150 years, transformed into an airy linear park with refreshing creativity and innovation.

Despite its modest size The Goods Line has proved a key strategic link for Sydney to become a more navigable, networked and walkable city as well as providing a new public space that functions and feels like a gathering area, outdoor campus, playground and museum.

The Goods Line has already won an Australian Award for Urban Design 2014, demonstrating the important role of design in social and economic infrastructure and how public space is being addressed in Sydney.

Read the full story in Indesign Issue #64, on sale now. Subscribe here.

Photography by: Florian Groehn.