But the leadership at St Clair School say they have some idea of what would not work for the re-purposed former home of the Forbury Park Trotting Club.
St Clair School principal Jen Rodgers said although the school was heavily impacted by flooding in 2015, when the suburb flooded again in October last year there were no issues at the school.
The design and drainage work that had gone into the school grounds since the 2015 flood had dealt with areas where issues had arisen in the past, she said.
And when nearby residences had water lapping at their doors several months ago, the school had no problems.
"Nothing," Ms Rodgers said. "We were absolutely not impacted at all."
The Dunedin City Council bought the former Forbury Park raceway last year for $13.2 million and a mix of social, community and private housing has been floated for the site, as has the possibility of wetlands and pumping stations, even a $38.4m detention pond.
If the area was re-cast as a residential neighbourhood supporting 400 homes, that would have "a massive impact on our school, and our roll, and our zone and what we can and can't manage", Ms Rodgers said.
"You wouldn't want high-rise buildings in there, that would be really problematic for our school," she said.
"I'd love to see it as a green, open space that we could just go on nature walks as a school, but that's unlikely to happen either.
"Somewhere in the middle, probably a mix of both of those things will be where it sits, maybe."
Seven multibillion-dollar visions for South Dunedin in 2100 were released last month by South Dunedin Future — a joint-city council and Otago Regional Council work programme attempting to prepare the low-lying suburb for a future impacted by rising groundwater and an increasing frequency and severity of storms.
In some proposals, buildings were cleared from the land and it would be raised before it was developed again.
In others, large swathes of the suburb would be abandoned to "let the water in" and waterways would be created where buildings now stand. In even the least enterprising visions, water storage would still occur at the 12ha Forbury Park.
The Ministry of Education said there were 12 schools in the South Dunedin Future project area and the ministry was encouraging them to take part in upcoming community consultation on the future of the area.
St Clair School board presiding member Robert Choveaux said the board would look at any consultation material that was produced and provide comment in relation to its impact on the school.
But the fact the city council purchased Forbury Park had given the school peace of mind and as such the broader issues raised by the South Dunedin Future programme were not front of mind.
Of more immediate interest was the redevelopment of the 4833sqm corner of the former raceway land nearest to the school grounds.
The present school grounds were too small to meet Ministry of Education guidelines around children per square metre, Mr Choveaux said.
As such, the ministry had purchased a portion of Forbury Park for the school and its conversion into an outdoor active play space for the children was expected to be complete before the end of the year.
Flood risk played a part in its design — and the new redeveloped ground would drain water away from both the school and its neighbouring properties and back towards the remainder of the former raceway, he said.
"We've got a high water table everywhere.
"It doesn't take long for it to get inundated in rain events," he said.
"I mean, absolutely for the residents of South Dunedin, it's front of mind.
"They're seeing it.
"The infrastructure in front of their houses and places is not keeping up like ours is.
"So absolutely, it's more front of mind for them.
"We've put some engineering solutions in place to help mitigate that. So it has taken a bit of a steep turn for us."
Initial consultation is under way — a digital survey is available online.
Drop-in sessions and public workshops are scheduled for this month and next.
