Large-scale regional planning and infrastructure development are often top-down and neglect the presence of local communities, resulting in conflicts related to land grab, livelihood disruption, and resource exploitation. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), where water emerges as a critical resource due to its intensive utilization in major capital projects. Numerous hydropower dams pop up along the Mekong River and its tributaries, causing flash floods, development-induced displacement, and disruption of livelihood, and disconnection to water. Ethnohydrology is defined as the cognitive and organizational relationship of local culture with their water environment. It is the indigenous adaptive system originated by local people to secure land stewardship, maintain livelihood, and sustain natural resources. Using Nam Tha I Hydropower Dam as a demonstration site, this design thesis acknowledges, illustrates and advocates for the validity and complexity of indigenous knowledge and proposes new forms and special configurations to enhance the resiliency of impacted downstream communities and provide bottom-up alternatives to restoring ethnohydrology and support livelihood safely amidst seasonal dynamics and extreme scenarios. Overall, this research design employs geospatial mapping speculation, grey literature mining, and ethnography research methods, and contributes to a more holistic and sustainable approach to landscape architecture within the context of large-scale infrastructure initiatives.