The Kedron Brook catchment in Brisbane sustained significant geomorphic damage during the 2021 and 2022 floods, including severe bank erosion and infrastructure impacts. In response, a geomorphic assessment was undertaken to inform the Kedron Brook Flood Recovery Project and guide future catchment management. The River Styles Framework was applied to characterise catchment condition and identify priority reaches, combining historical aerial imagery analysis with field-based geomorphic assessment. This revealed extensive floodplain encroachment, channelisation and anthropogenic confinement, resulting in substantial loss of lateral mobility, floodplain connectivity and Room for the River. River Styles mapping identified increasing downstream potential for channel adjustment that has been progressively overridden by urban development. Reaches in near-intact condition were identified for conservation, while strategically important reaches were targeted for intervention to address threatening processes and geomorphic risk.
Integrating the River Styles Framework with Room for the River principles offers a proactive, catchment-scale approach to urban waterway management, linking geomorphic recovery potential with the spatial freedom rivers need to adjust. River Styles explains how valley setting, channel form and catchment processes shape river behaviour and recovery potential, while Room for the River translates this understanding into practical measures that protect or reinstate space for lateral movement, floodplain connectivity and energy dissipation. The approach and findings from Kedron Brook are transferable to other urban catchments, offering a geomorphically informed catchment management framework for mitigating urbanisation impacts and building long-term river resilience.