Rising Tides: Engaging Coastal Communities through Art to Design a Transformative, Resilient Future

Coastal zones are experiencing increasing pressure from climate change, environmental change, and population growth. Developing transformative visions for the future that respond to local community values and projected changes can be challenging and even confrontational, given the emotional, social, economic and cultural connections to coasts. This research project presents a novel, interdisciplinary approach drawing on social science, ecosystem science, and landscape architecture, with the goal of providing creative visions for future coasts to inform planning processes.

Two Western Australian case study locations (Cockburn in metropolitan Perth, and Binalup in the regional Albany) provided an opportunity to explore coastal futures in rapidly changing, physically vulnerable areas. Local community members were asked to express their values for the coast through several arts-based methods including paper collage, textile creation, photography and poetry, resulting in over 70 community artworks. Participants were interviewed about the values embodied in the artwork, and the ideal future of depicted locations. These interviews were developed into artists' statements that accompany each creative work.

Key themes from the workshops, lectures in nature-based solutions, and yarning with Indigenous Elders informed design briefs for landscape architecture students and staff at the UWA School of Design. Through the aptly-named 'Rising Tides' studio, imaginative, hopeful designs for key public precincts were displayed at public exhibitions in each location, alongside the community artworks. Over 350 people attend the exhibitions of community artworks, visions and designs. We sought feedback from the general public and from practitioners involved with adaptation planning on whether these representations can spark constructive conversations around adaptation planning. Results indicate positive interest from key stakeholder groups, including practitioners, to adapt the approach to envision coastal futures. Encouragingly, 70% of community participants agreed that they could now imagine the future of their coastline in a different way than before the project.

In a world where diverse, nature-based visions for coastal regions are often lacking, the 'Rising Tides' project fostered dialogue and creative, transformative solutions for adapting to change. The approach is adaptable to other regions and is conducive to scaling up.