On Friday, the Otago Regional Council launched its campaign to enhance the area of the river between Forth St and Otago Harbour.
It plans to ask the community what future it wants for the area through its new Love Your Leith website.
Council engineering, hazards and science director Gavin Palmer said there were no specific plans and it had an ``open mind'' about what type of work could be done.
``It would be nice to have more water, more connectivity, just tidy it up.
``There are some pretty ugly looking things around here.''
One idea was helping people get closer to the water, for example with terraced steps.
Weirs could be used to create more water and wetland features could be installed, Dr Palmer said.
``It would be great if we could get on to that central pier.''
Council stakeholder engagement director Sian Sutton said it wanted to know how people were using the area now and how they wanted to use it in the future.
``We're standing here today and there's no-one here.
``Wouldn't it be nice to see people enjoying it and interacting with something that's seen as a bit of an icon here in Dunedin.
``I'm imagining students coming down here having some lunch.''
The council wanted to be ``really transparent'' with the public throughout the process, she said.
A working group would create the final concept which it hoped to present to the council by the end of the financial year.
It was one of the final stages of the Leith Flood Protection Scheme, which began more than 10 years ago.
