The Hastings Foreshore is well-loved by the local community but faces mounting future challenges posed by increasing vulnerability to coastal inundation, a former landfill, and competing community aspirations. We were engaged by Mornington Peninsula Shire to create a Masterplan that seeks to provide practical management options for the future of the foreshore that embed Traditional Owner objectives and balance community and stakeholder aspirations, site constraints, and legislation. Driven by input from the people who know the place best, the Masterplan proposes how the foreshore can adapt to become a more resilient, inclusive, playful, and connected place that reflects the community’s aspirations and values, ensuring enjoyment for future generations.
“Driven by input from the people who know the place best, the Masterplan proposes how the foreshore can adapt to become a more resilient, inclusive, playful, and connected place that reflects the community’s aspirations and values, ensuring enjoyment for future generations.
We engaged detailed community engagement when preparing the Masterplan. It was immediately apparent during conversations with the local community that the foreshore is already much loved. It was also clear that many people weren’t aware of the growing threat posed by tidal inundation, or the challenges presented by the former landfill site below the north of the reserve. Education on these challenges was a key component of the engagement process, as they have a direct bearing on which community aspirations could be accommodated.
The Hastings Foreshore is a contested public space with many users vying for its real estate. To address these conflicts, the Masterplan divides the foreshore into four complimentary precincts, each with a different programmatic focus. This helped to consolidate a broad menu of projects and identify opportunities for multiple use that will ultimately preserve limited capital resources and serve a diversity of users.
The focus of each of the four precincts provides a clear guide for how the character, potential function, and vibrancy of the foreshore can be reimagined to facilitate the Community’s varied and rich requirements, protect, and enhance the local ecology, and ensure it is there for future generations to enjoy
