The river as a living entity
Date: 10月 26, 2025
Category: Insights
Rivers are increasingly being understood as culturally and spiritually significant, especially where Indigenous knowledge systems intersect with contemporary urban planning and environmental governance.
An image from Reimagining Birrarung, Design Concepts for 2070
Legal and cultural foundations: the Yarra River Protection Act
The Act and the subsequent planning strategies provide a number of key shifts in cultural and land management thinking. Culturally, it seeks to shift the city’s residents’ perspective, from seeing the Birrarung as just a river, to recognising it as a central cultural and environmental entity in the city’s identity. It demands that future planning of the river must acknowledge and include Traditional Owners, that the river corridor is an integrated entity, and that all acts should provide a net gain in environmental health. These requirements underscore the deep interdependence between ecological and human well-being—a principle that is increasingly recognized in sustainability science but has long been central to Indigenous knowledge systems.
The Act also required the creation of a 50-year community vision as a means of emboldening community participation and voice in all future planning and project decisions.
The Act also required the creation of a 50-year community vision as a means of emboldening community participation and voice in all future planning and project decisions.
An image from Reimagining Birrarung, Design Concepts for 2070
Speculative Futures: Reimagining Birrarung 2070
An image from Reimagining Birrarung, Design Concepts for 2070
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Design becomes a mediating practice, translating abstract values into tangible interventions.
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The Greenline Master Plan
Urban implementation: The Greenline Project
The Greenline Master Plan
The Greenline Project also emphasises cultural recognition. Interpretive signage, public art, and ceremonial spaces are being developed in collaboration with Traditional Owners to tell the stories of the Birrarung and its people. This approach moves beyond tokenistic inclusion to genuine co-design, where Indigenous voices shape both the narrative and the form of the landscape (City of Melbourne, 2022).
Community engagement has also been integral to the project’s development. Through workshops, consultations, and participatory design processes, the project has sought to build a shared vision for the riverfront. This inclusive approach reflects a broader shift in urban planning toward collaborative governance and community driven outcomes.
Community engagement has also been integral to the project’s development. Through workshops, consultations, and participatory design processes, the project has sought to build a shared vision for the riverfront. This inclusive approach reflects a broader shift in urban planning toward collaborative governance and community driven outcomes.
Toward a new paradigm of river governance and design
The Greenline master plan
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Crucially, this paradigm shift is not merely technical or procedural; it is ethical and epistemological.
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A necessary transformation
References
- Clark, C., Emmanouil, N., Page, J., & Pelizzon, A. (2019). Can you hear the rivers sing? Legal personhood, ontology, and the nitty-gritty of governance. Ecology Law Quarterly, 45(4), 787-844.
- O'donnell, E. L., & Talbot-Jones, J. (2018). Creating legal rights for rivers. Ecology and Society, 23(1).
- Birrarung Council (2022). Birrarung Council Annual Report to Parliament 2022, https://www.birrarungcouncil.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/701310/Final_Birrarung-Council-Annual-Report-2022.pdf
- Melbourne Water (2018), Yarra_River_50-Year_Community_Vision/ Wilip-gin Birrarung murron, https://www.melbournewater.com.au/sites/default/files/2021-12/Yarra_River_50-Year_Community_Vision_2018.pdf
- Buckrich, Judith (2024). Yarra Birrarung: Artists, Writers and the River. Melbourne Books.
- City of Melbourne. (2023). The Greenline Project Master Plan, https://participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/greenline
- National Gallery of Victoria, 2024, Reimagining Birrarung Design Concepts for 2070, https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/reimagining-birrarung/
- Shi, Terren, January 2025, Exhibition Review | Reimagining Birrarung: Design Concepts for 2070, World Landscape Architecture
- Škerl, Urška, 2025, Futures of the River by Landscape Architects: Reimagining Birrarung, Landezine
