Joel Sternfeld, Looking East on 30th Street on a Morning in May (2000)

A High Line for London?

Deadline for a mayor-endorsed urban park scheme is 2pm this Friday

Your chance to put new ideas for old urban spaces to Boris Johnson and co comes to an end this week, as the deadline for the High Line for London competition draws to a close. This open call for submissions, hosted by the Mayor of London, the Garden Museum and the Landscape Institute, while drawing inspiration from the Manhattan's High Line - the mile-long park built on a disused viaduct which opened in 2011 - does not restrict suggestions to old railway tracks. More surprisingly, the rules state that entrants should "not be constrained by any restrictions such as current planning law, land ownership, budgets or health and safety issues."

Instead, the brief suggests that entries might explore "new ideas about the relationship between architecture and public and private green spaces" as well as the creation of "edible landscapes and shared cultivation areas." Judges include Joshua David and Robert Hammond, Founders of the NY High Line and Dr. Penelope Curtis, Director of Tate Britain.

Despite these blue-sky guidelines, some architects, such as Gareth Morris from London's What If practice, have already drawn-up briefs for railway line parks, quite independently of this competition. Nevertheless, if you've always dreamed of a multi-storey allotment in Battersea power station, a Docklands adventure playground, or know of a lovely derelict train bridge that’s crying out for a public water feature, it's time to get this down on paper. Ideas should be submitted on an A1 board, by 2pm this Friday to The Garden Museum Lambeth Palace Road London SE1. While there's guarantee the winning submission will be built, but the winner be awarded with £2,500 by Mayor Johnson at part of The High Line Symposium, also taking place at the Garden Museum from 5-8 October 2012.