While politicians ignore calls to raise Newstart, alarming levels of financial stress among private renters, particularly in low-rent outer suburbs, show why current welfare payments are too low.
The clearest change following the introduction of 24-hour public transport was that people were observed to be getting more intoxicated.
bbernard/Shutterstock
A program aimed at getting people home safely has cost A$300 million but has had little impact, aside from increased intoxication in CBD venues. Rates of assaults and road crashes are much the same.
Melbourne has a rich legacy of urban parks thanks to planning decisions made when the city was first established.
Shutterstock
The Victorian grassland earless dragon may well be the first lizard species driven to extinction on Australia’s mainland. But conservationists aren’t ready to declare it dead just yet.
Venice is among the cities that have had public protests against soaring numbers of tourists – including this protest banner on the Rialto bridge.
Andrea Merola/EPA/AAP
The future of tourism depends on ensuring visitors do not wear out their welcome. Giving locals more of a say in tourism can help ensure they share in the benefits and minimise the costs.
As one of the fastest-growing cities in the developed world, Melbourne’s suburban sprawl has many costs.
Nils Versemann/Shutterstock
John Stanley, University of Sydney; Janet Stanley, The University of Melbourne y Peter Brain, National Institute of Economic and Industry Research
State and local governments can’t do much about the rapid population growth in Melbourne, but they can take steps to reduce the costs of growing disparities between the outer suburbs and inner city.
Walking accounts for about 90% of all travel in Melbourne city centre, yet pedestrians are allocated only 24% of street space.
Adam Calaitzis/Shutterstock
A newly released ten-year plan for Melbourne aims for fewer cars, safer streets and more shared spaces. A significant amount of parking and road space would be reallocated to walking and cycling.
In an urban setting like central Footscray, where only 1% of the area is public space, the value of the humble footpath needs to be recognised.
Yvonne Meng
Footpaths are a valuable space for everyday social activity, but their role is often overlooked. In increasingly dense urban areas such as Footscray, footpaths are essential public spaces.
Public housing in Paris (left) and Melbourne (right) has similar impacts on residents’ integration into the community.
Wissem Felah, Sandra Carrasco
Whether in Melbourne or in Paris, African immigrants face social and cultural challenges, which public housing can either add to or help overcome.
The main concern when talking about the liveability of a city like Melbourne should be sustaining the health and well-being of residents.
Leonid Andronov/Shutterstock
Rather than mourn the end of a seven-year reign as ‘world’s most liveable city’, Melbourne could raise its sights to become more liveable, healthy and sustainable for all who live in the city.
The kebab van enlivens and humanises otherwise unattractive and abandoned parts of the city.
James Connor
Kebab vans symbolise the success of ‘bottom-up’ multiculturalism, providing a way for the non-European cultural ‘other’ to become part of our way of life.
Reduced to a pile of rubble in 2016, the Corkman pub had been a favourite local meeting place since the mid-1880s.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP
The illegal demolition of a historic pub in Melbourne is the subject of a legal bid to order its rebuilding. Although the heritage value of such a move is debatable, there are other justifications.
Often overshadowed by her famous brothers, Ruby Lindsay found ways to challenge the restrictive gender roles of early-20th Century Australia.
This playable tram generates different musical compositions at different speeds when viewed through a smartphone camera using an augmented reality app.
James H.H. Morgan
Melbourne has its first playable art tram – a 32.5-metre-long musical score played via augmented reality. So what’s the idea of playable trams and playable cities really about?
An image of the landscape around Bairnsdale in the late-18th century. D. R Long (Daniel Rutter), between 1856 and 1883.
State Library of Victoria
Aboriginal songs found in the notebooks of a Victorian anthropologist shed light on the mystery of a ‘captive white woman’ that has been debated for generations.
Clearfell logging in the Thomson Catchment with the Thomson Reservoir in the background.
Chris Taylor
Logging in the Thomson Catchment could reduce water supply by the equivalent of 600,000 people by 2050.
Thanks to their consumption of invertebrates, Melbourne platypus likely receive half the recommended human dose of anti-depressants every day.
Denise Illing