In the past centuries, water structures such as canals, etc. were important as a lifeline for a city instead of being a facility only for water. However, globally, cities are turning their back to the water. Despite their potential for urban development, many canals or watercourses are losing their identity in urban areas. There is a potential of turning the canal or watercourses back to a lifeline for the city by landscape methods. Through landscape methods, there are potential to turn the role of water in cities more positive and let it influence life in the urban area. The Grand Canal (known to the Chinese as the Jing–Hang Grand Canal) in China, start from Hangzhou to Beijing, was a backbone for urban life and played an important role in social, culture, ecology and economy in history. Tongzhou, located in a low-lying area in the southeast corner of Beijing, was in history a hub along the Grand Canal that connected Beijing city center and southern China. Now, the Grand Canal in Beijing part is no longer used for transportation because of the lack of water. Even though the Grand Canal doesn't benefit Beijing as in the past anymore, it is still a strong urban element for creating public space and potential backbone for urban development in Tongzhou district. The Grand Canal can serve as a landscape infrastructure in Tongzhou district, creating spatial conditions for social-ecological inclusive urban development. There are always roads or a stretch of green in parallel to the canal, several public area or waterfront dock located along the canal in the longitudinal dimension. The stretch of green was mostly planned as part of a park or public area. Space was only expanded in parallel to the canal almost in all types of waterfront. Longitudinally, the existing green area next to the canal is a separate system from the city. The opening of the green areas is always facing a wide road without any form of connection to the communities. The accessibility to the public area can be improved in the lateral dimension. Vertically, there is always a boundary in the border of water, it is hard for people to touch the water, which is considered dangerous being close to the water. To transform the Grand Canal as a landscape infrastructure, we need to make use of the expansion area and create a connection between city and water, people and water. Hence, space is going to be considered as a zone instead of a line around the canal and from the upland trail to instream. Moreover, the Grand Canal as one of the most important water source carriers is in charge of keeping water and keep the quality of water. There are moves of water retention and purification to be made in the design process. In conclusion, most of the space along the canal only expanded longitudinally but lack of consideration on the lateral and vertical dimension. This project explores the potentials of the Grand Canal as a backbone for urban development. It is considered to be an urban landscape infrastructure that exploits the longitudinal(amount of water and water connection), lateral(connection between water and city, ecology connection) and vertical(connection between water and people, water and ecology) dimensions and creates conditions for the development of a social-ecological inclusive urban landscape and sustainable water management.