South Dunedin Future is a joint programme between Dunedin City Council and Otago Regional Council to find ways to respond to climate change and flooding problems in South Dunedin.
What is at stake for South Dunedin?
We need to adapt South Dunedin’s infrastructure and environment in a way that creates more room for increasing levels of rain, sea and groundwater, while protecting space for people and the things that matter.
We are making a plan with the South Dunedin community, mana whenua and stakeholders to work out what’s most important and to find the right balance between people, water and space.
What's happening now?
South Dunedin Future has reached a major milestone with the release of the new South Dunedin Risk Assessment, Potential adaptation futures for South Dunedin background context report, and Potential adaptation futures for South Dunedin micro business cases.
The South Dunedin Risk Assessment brings together the first comprehensive picture of the flood-related challenges facing the area now and through to the year 2100. The Potential Adaptation Futures report provides visualisations of what South Dunedin could look like in 75 years. The futures were developed from technical analyses and previous feedback on adaptation approaches provided by the community.
In April and May 2025 we held community drop-in sessions and workshops to collect feedback on the 7 potential adaptation futures. We received feedback from several hundred people and we are now analysing the information.
The next step of the programme will use the feedback to help identify a shortlist of preferred futures. We will take a closer look at what those futures would look like and detail how they would be broken down into stages. This information will be shared with the community in early 2026 for additional feedback.
Potential Adaptation Futures for South Dunedin
7 possible futures for South Dunedin latest flyer
Our fourth flyer explains how the risks in South Dunedin will grow with climate change. Using 2024 community feedback on flooding and climate change adaptation, we have developed seven futures showing what South Dunedin could be like in 75 years.
Click to enlarge (new window)
What you can do
We need you to get involved, tell us what you think and let us know what matters most to you about South Dunedin.
- Learn about the science
- Tell us what’s important
- Share your ideas
- Help narrow down the options
- Agree on the plan
Subscribe to the newsletter
The South Dunedin Future newsletter is a great way to learn about the environmental science and consider the issues affecting South Dunedin. We'll let you know about upcoming events and all the opportunities for you to tell us what's important, hear what others think and want, understand the options and trade-offs, and play an active role in the decision making.
Get in touch
We want you to share your ideas to help shape South Dunedin. If you have an idea or a question, drop us a line.
- Email southdunedinfuture@dcc.govt.nz
- Phone 03 477 4000