Australia's coastline is closely linked to its national economy, ecology, industry, social lifestyle, and cultural identity, with more than 85% of its population living within 50 kilometres of the sea. In the face of sea-level rise, a managed retreat from our coastal areas is an important response. However, a human-only retreat inland ignores the effects of coastal inundation on important coastal ecosystems.
The project assumes that humans will enact a managed retreat from the coastline, however coastal ecosystems also require adaptive retreat strategies.
This project explores how the role that landscape architecture can play in designing the adaptation and retreat of important ecosystems, as well as preventing further sea - level rise.
The Melbourne CBD is the test site for the project. The project explores design strategies that bring the sea and the urban fabric together to create a new urban coastal environment that explores how Melbourne’s existing urban vegetation can be retreated and integrated with coastal ecosystems to create a new urban aqueous ecology and prevent further sea-level rise. The project speculates on how coastal ecosystems might become the new “owners” of the city and its buildings and streets.
