Surfacing wetlands through design ethnography and critical visualisation

Authors

• Alexandra Crosby, University of Technology SydneyFollow
• Sarah-Jane Jones, University of Technology SydneyFollow
• Holly O'Neil, University of Technology SydneyFollow

Abstract

This paper explores the visualisation of wetlands and waterways as a more-than-human design practice that can generate situated and relational understandings of colonised urban wetlands and waterways in Australia. We analyse three design research projects that create online visualisations of wetlands in Australia: The Sound of Water, Environmental Flows in Nap Nap Swamp (2021); The Rippon Lea Water Story (2023); and Dyarubbin the real Secret River (2020). These projects are brought together in this paper to open discussion about the role of design research place-based ethnography and critical visualisation in communicating with and about water places. We make the argument that emergent aesthetics and affects of these projects can reconfigure practice towards more equitable, reparative, and care-full climate futures.

Keywords

wetlands, visualisation, place-based design, water

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1115

Citation

Crosby, A., Jones, S., and O'Neil, H. (2026) Surfacing wetlands through design ethnography and critical visualisation, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1115

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License