In one Melbourne case study, half-a-dozen bikes occupying the same space as a parked car generated, on average, nearly four times as much retail spending.
flickr/Richard Drdul
Pro-bike policies can boost local business. In one Melbourne case study, the average hourly retail spending from six bikes was $97.20 compared to $27 from one car occupying an equivalent space.
While Melbourne City Council is responsible for the CBD, governance of the vast area of metropolitan Melbourne is poorly co-ordinated between 31 councils in all.
Alex Proimos/Flickr
Governance of metropolitan Melbourne is fragmented among 31 city councils. All levels of government need to work towards creating a metropolitan authority to meet the challenges of a growing city.
Governments need not only to create affordable housing, but to keep it affordable in the long run.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
We need to move away from thinking about the skyscraper as an “icon”. Instead, we should be asking how the tall building – which will always “stand out” – can also “fit in” to cities.
Michael Hutchence bought name recognition to Dogs in Space.
The Making of Dogs in Space
Richard Lowenstein’s 1986 film Dogs in Space was a punk circus/social document that alienated many. But on the film’s 30th anniversary, it seems the world has caught up with it and a new audience of fans has emerged.
A fast rail link between Sydney and Melbourne was first proposed in 1984. So why haven’t we done it yet?
The ‘Lose Yourself in Melbourne’ ad was onto something: instead of being directed to the fastest or shortest route, some people might want to take a diverting detour.
'It's Easy to Lose Yourself in Melbourne', Tourism Victoria
If smart cities run on big data and algorithms that channel only ‘relevant’ information and opinions to us, how do we maintain the diversity of ideas and possibilities that drives truly smart cities?
An orang-utan playing with the interactive digital projector at the Melbourne Zoo.
Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces at the University of Melbourne
Where you live affects your health and life expectancy. This makes it possible to map health outcomes against train stations, so that you can readily see the inequalities across cities like Melbourne.
Oroville Dam in California, where water levels had fallen 30% by 2014.
Dam image from www.shutterstock.com
Six years after Black Saturday, it’s worth remembering that heatwaves kill more people than bushfires do, so shade can be a life-saver. But tree cover and shade are not evenly distributed in cities.
It looks great – but what about the wildlife?
Tree image from www.shutterstock.com.
Victorians, like their New South Wales cousins, exercise more often than Queenslanders, who enjoy a better year-round climate. And they beat all other states hands-down when it comes to spectator numbers.
Melburnians love their trees, and for good reason.
Jennifer Morrow/Flickr
Statistics might lend the impression that going out at night anywhere in inner-city Melbourne is risky. But assaults in licensed premises are highly concentrated in specific venues.