Reimagining swamps as kin: How Swamp Studio is reshaping design education and water care

In the Upper Kedumba catchment of the Blue Mountains, a quiet revolution is taking place. It’s not loud or flashy. It doesn’t involve concrete or steel. Instead, it begins with listening – to water, to Country, and to the people who have cared for it across generations. 

Swamp Studio is a landscape architecture initiative led by Louisa King from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), in collaboration with Uncle David King, a Gundungurra Elder, and The Gully Traditional Owners Inc. Supported by a UTS Social Impact Grant, the project invites students to rethink their role as designers – not as problem-solvers, but as stewards, listeners, and collaborators. 
 
'Rather than treating swamps as problems to be managed, we asked: what if swamps were our teachers?' says King. 

Listening to Country 

Swamp Studio was born from a need to address ecological and cultural tensions in swamp environments – especially those shaped by colonisation, water regulation, and dispossession. The studio focused on the Upper Kedumba catchment, a place rich in history and ecological complexity. 

Students didn’t just study the landscape. They walked it. They sat with it. They learned from Uncle David King, who shared Gundungurra perspectives on water as kin and swamp as Country. Through fieldwork, yarning, drawing, and co-design, students developed proposals that were subtle, seasonal, and deeply responsive. 
 
'Under Uncle David’s guidance, students began to see water not as a resource, but as a living system with memory and law,' King explains. 

A different kind of design 

More than 40 student projects emerged from the studio – ranging from ephemeral installations to stewardship plans and cultural infrastructure.

Some students chose not to design objects at all, instead proposing methods of listening or supporting existing ecological work.

This shift – from extraction to relation – was transformative. Students described the experience as a turning point in their education. Several have continued working with the community beyond the studio, volunteering or pursuing independent research.

'We moved at the pace of trust,' Uncle David King said. 'Every step was guided by invitation, not imposition.'

Impact beyond the studio 

Swamp Studio’s influence is already rippling outward. The Blue Mountains City Council has drawn on student proposals to inform its water education and restoration strategies. The studio has reshaped the UTS landscape architecture curriculum and sparked interest in community-led, Country-informed teaching models. 

Looking ahead 

Swamp Studio is now being developed as a transferable model for other catchments. A toolkit for educators is in progress, and conversations are underway to build a cross-institutional network supporting relational, community-led design education. 

A speculative masterplan is also being created – one that weaves together student work, community stories, and cultural frameworks to guide future water policy and design standards. 

'Design less. Listen more,' King reflects. 'That’s the lesson we hope others will carry forward.'