OUTCOME 4

Melbourne is a distinctive and liveable city with quality design and amenity

Melbourne has always been a place defined and designed by its people.

Countless generations of Aboriginal people of the Kulin nations laid the foundations of what became Melbourne and Victoria—using, among many other ingenious techniques, fire to turn their corner of Australia into a land of abundance. Many of the first Europeans to settle in Victoria wrote about the then colony’s manicured appearance, including the city’s first surveyor, Robert Hoddle. Port Phillip was, Hoddle said, ‘picturesque and park‑like country’

Melbourne’s Plan

Create more great public places across Melbourne

By adopting a place-making approach, the standard of urban design of public places can be raised across Melbourne’s suburbs.
A more focused approach will be adopted to strengthen the design quality of public spaces and the interfaces between private development and the public domain.
Improvements to public spaces and more thoughtful integration of new development can make a measurable difference to the amenity, economic vitality and the cultural and social life of Melbourne.
To achieve a consistently high standard of place-making across Melbourne, the planning system will strengthen the design quality of public spaces and the interfaces between private development and the public domain.

Build on Melbourne’s cultural leadership and sporting legacy

Melbourne’s reputation as a vibrant, creative city depends on the combination of its stadiums, business conference facilities, libraries, museums, galleries and performing-arts venues, as well as a year-round calendar of events and festivals.
Many of Melbourne’s iconic venues are located in the heart of the city, including the MCG, Melbourne Tennis Centre, Melbourne Arts Precinct, Federation Square, the National Gallery of Victoria, and the Princess, Comedy, Her Majesty’s and Regent theatres. Other important venues—such as the city’s racecourses, sand-belt golf courses and art galleries—are distributed across the metropolitan area. Sport and culture also thrive at a community level. The city’s suburban sporting venues and community arts facilities give residents opportunities to participate in a wide range of sporting and cultural activities.
Designated cultural precincts and community infrastructure have been established in many parts of Melbourne, including the Lonsdale Street and Little Bourke Street precincts in the Central Business District; Lygon Street, Carlton; Victoria Street, Richmond; Oakleigh’s Eaton Mall; the Thomas Street Afghan Bazaar in Dandenong; the Chinese Museum in Melbourne’s Chinatown; the Greek Cultural Centre in Melbourne’s Greek precinct; the African Australian Community Centre in Footscray; the Islamic Museum of Australia in Thornbury; and the National Jewish Library in Caulfield.
Melbourne’s distinctiveness as a leading cultural and sporting city needs to be maintained and strengthened.
To maintain Melbourne’s position of cultural and sporting leadership, it is important to refresh and expand its world-class sporting and cultural infrastructure.

Achieve and promote design excellence

Melbourne is a design capital—thanks to its well-preserved heritage buildings, strong and distinctive architectural character, street art, and thriving museums. However, more can be done to strengthen Melbourne’s credentials as a creative and artistic city.

Respect Melbourne’s heritage as we build for the future

Heritage will continue to be one of Melbourne’s competitive strengths, contributing to its distinctiveness and liveability and attracting visitors, new residents and investors. Heritage is an important component of Victoria’s tourism industry and benefits the economy.
Aboriginal cultural heritage, including important landscapes and places, must be protected and conserved. Custodianship of country,32 as well as contemporary Aboriginal cultural heritage values associated with residents of places, must be respected.
In time, new development will add to Melbourne’s rich legacy of heritage places. The process of building a new legacy is important, just as it is vital that current assets are protected.
Innovative approaches to the creative re-use of heritage places need to be adopted, ensuring good urban design both preserves and renews historic buildings and places.

Plan for Melbourne’s green wedges and peri-urban areas

As Melbourne grows, planning for Melbourne’s green wedges and peri-urban areas is required to:
• protect biodiversity assets, including national and state parks, Ramsar wetlands and coastal areas
• support existing and potential agribusiness activities, forestry, food production and tourism
• protect major state infrastructure and resource assets, including water supply dams and water catchments and waste management and recycling facilities
• support renewable energy sources such as wind and solar farms
• protect extractive industries
• provide a recreational resource, which contributes to public health outcomes for all Victorians.
These valued features, assets and industries should be prioritised before other land uses.
Melbourne’s green wedges and peri-urban areas are identified on Map 19. Future growth in the green wedges and peri-urban areas will be managed to protect productive land, strategic economic resources, heritage and biodiversity assets, while accommodating additional housing and employment in established towns in the outer peri-urban areas that have the capacity for growth. Many towns in green wedges have limited growth potential.
Consistent with Plan Melbourne and the Regional Growth Plans, planning for green wedge and peri‑urban areas should:
• define and protect areas that are strategically important to the metropolitan area and the state, for the environment, biodiversity, landscape, open space, water, agriculture, energy, recreation, tourism, environment, cultural heritage, infrastructure, extractive and other natural resources
• protect and manage the value of green wedges consistent with green wedge management plans
• avoid development in locations where there is risk to life, property, the natural environment and infrastructure from natural hazards such as bushfire and flooding
• accommodate additional housing and employment in established towns that have the capacity for growth
• provide for non-urban breaks between urban areas.

Strengthen community participation in the planning of our city

Planning for places undergoing change can be improved by considering a wide range of viewpoints from existing, as well as future, communities (such as the people that would like to live in these places at some time in the future). Community participation and engagement can strengthen community resilience, increase knowledge and understanding of change, and empower local groups to be part of shaping the city’s future.
For instance, the acknowledgement and respect of Aboriginal culture, values and practices is at the heart of successful engagement with Aboriginal people—and helps counter racism and ignorance.33 The contribution of Aboriginal values and perspectives needs to be embedded in the planning of Melbourne’s built and natural environments through ongoing partnerships with Traditional Owners, local communities and others involved with planning, design and natural resource management.
Melburnians deserve a system offering mature participation in planning decision-making. For that to occur, planning processes must be improved, streamlined and made more inclusive. Metropolitan Partnerships will also provide the community and local businesses with opportunities to identify planning priorities in their local area.