Victoria is one of the most diverse and liveable places in the world
Introduction
Melbourne will continue to be a global city of opportunity and choice
A Planning strategy for Melbourne
Melbourne is one of the world’s most distinctive, liveable cities. It is a marvellous place, made— and remade—by the work of generations of Victorians, including countless generations of Aboriginal Victorians.
How Melbourne has grown
Before European settlement in 1835, Aboriginal people had lived on the land now called Melbourne for at least 40,000 years. Since then, Melbourne has seen waves of growth-led transformations, with each wave leaving lasting impressions on the city’s landscape, structure and identity. Map 1 shows Melbourne’s growth over stages of its history.
Melbourne’s key challenges and opportunities
Over the past decade, Melbourne has added more than 800,000 new residents. While natural population increases are still significant, many of these new residents have come to Melbourne from interstate and oversea —attracted by a range of education and employment opportunities as well as housing choices.
Remaining competitive in a changing economy
Melbourne is well placed to respond to these changes. After all, the city has a highly skilled workforce with strong international business, educational, research and cultural connections.
However, to remain competitive there is a need to boost productivity, and support growth and innovation across all industries and regions. New technologies—such as self-driving cars, the development of energy storage technologies and artificial intelligence—will change the ways people live and work between now and 2050. Plan Melbourne will need to be adapted over time to accommodate those changes.
To grow jobs and create accessible, affordable and attractive neighbourhoods, Melbourne needs to take advantage of the land it has available for renewal in the city and suburbs. Increasing the number and diversity of jobs closer to where people live—in places such as suburban employment clusters, health and education precincts and industrial precincts—will help make Melbourne more productive and competitive.
In short, Melbourne has the people, places and potential to build the knowledge based industries and service industries that will drive economic growth in the 21st century.
Housing that is affordable and accessible
Many of Melbourne’s established suburbs are already unaffordable for middle- and low-income households looking to buy or rent. This is a major concern because these suburbs often have good access to jobs, services and transport. By contrast, although new housing in outer suburbs is more affordable, it often lacks good access to jobs, services and transport.
Without strategies to provide more housing choice, Melbourne will become less affordable and liveable—risking social equity and cohesion, and slowing economic growth.
Keeping up with the growing transport needs of the city
Melbourne’s transport system includes modern port, airport, road, rail, tram, bus, cycling and walking infrastructure. The city has an extensive freeway and arterial road network, a rail network that provides radial access to the central city and activity centres throughout the suburbs, as well as the world’s largest tram network.
Although the city’s transport system has sound foundations, it is coming under increased pressure from growth. By 2050, Melbourne’s transport network will need to handle an extra 10.4 million trips per day. Congestion and overcrowding is already an issue on parts of the road and public transport network, particularly at peak times. Major investment in transport infrastructure will boost rail and road capacity to meet the transport challenge, boost productivity, conserve energy, curb greenhouse gas emissions and protect liveability.
Climate change—the need for both mitigation and adaptation
Climate modelling shows that Victoria is becoming hotter and drier, facing more periods of extreme heat (days over 35°C) and drought, reductions in annual rainfall and increases in intense rainfall events, and an increased risk of extreme weather events such as flood and bushfire.
Vulnerable groups—such as the elderly, the chronically ill and low-income households—are more likely to be affected by the economic and social impacts of climate change, including rising food prices and increased demand for essential services.
Australians are among the highest emitters of greenhouse gases, per capita, in the developed world5—refer to Figure 3. Taking steps to transform Melbourne into a low-carbon city is both necessary and an opportunity. That’s why Victoria aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero emissions by 2050—an initiative that will create a low-carbon economy, generate new jobs, drive innovation within new and traditional industries, and improve the city’s liveability.
