In collaboration with Wave consulting and the City of Melbourne, McGregor Coxall led an investigation to reimagine Moonee Ponds Creek as a thriving open space corridor supporting a diversity of life forms, fundamental to the strength, resilience and liveability of the city.

By 2040 the City of Melbourne’s population is projected to double. As urban development accelerates, high performance green and blue infrastructure will be critical in alleviating pressure on the city whilst providing amenity for expanding communities. The Moonee Ponds Creek Strategic Opportunities Plan is a civic minded urban renewal study that advocates environmentally sustainable infrastructure and open space initiatives along this significant creek corridor.

Mooee Ponds Creek was once characterised by winding wetlands that would swell into fast flowing watercourses during heavy rain. As the city densified the ponds were replaced and disengaged from surrounding communities. The future visionfor the creek encourages social and ecological interaction through creek naturalisation and landscape interentions that bring nature to the city. Permeating surrounding communities these restored ecological systems will provide a necklace of parks and wetlands, transforming the existing underutilised spaces that currently separate the creek from thesurrounding urban fabric of the city, and knitting these together.

As an integrated water design and management plan, the Moonee Ponds Creek Strategic Opportunities seeks to change our relationship and perception of water. As an advocacy document the Moonee Ponds Creek Strategic Opportunities Plan is the first step in enabling the City of Melbourne and key stakeholders to present a unified strategic vision that can be developed into a business case and deployed over time.