Abstract

The Camden Highline is a charity-led project transforming a disused Victorian railway viaduct between Camden Town and King’s Cross into an elevated urban garden. Though its design looks forward, the project is anchored in the site’s railway legacy and the diverse histories of the communities it connects.

Tracking the Heritage, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, laid the groundwork for embedding heritage meaningfully within plans for the future Camden Highline. The project brought together young people, local residents, and heritage professionals through mapping, research, walking tours, and education workshops to identify and interpret the area’s industrial past. Through creative collaboration, it tested approaches to making heritage more visible and relevant, expanding participation and connecting historical narratives to a contemporary placemaking.

The presentation reflects on the decisions made through this process and how opening up discussions about heritage fostered new connections to place, deepened local ownership of Camden’s past, and informed how heritage will be interpreted within the future Highline.

Join the talk on Teams at this link: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/3990661861640?p=XH7MnqleeJZiFoJwkK