Cities overseas that have been able to overcome the affordable housing challenges facing cities like Melbourne have adopted a coordinated and systemic approach to scaling up solutions that work.
Melbourne and Sydney have similar access to public transport overall, but this and other liveability indicators vary greatly across the cities.
Julian Smith/AAP
Every year, our big cities vie for global liveability honours. But as well as differences between the cities, liveability varies widely within them, leaving plenty of work to be done.
Getting more out of ‘lazy’ land, such as this community housing built over a Port Phillip City Council-owned car park, is a key strategy to reduce the shortage of affordable housing.
CIty of Port Phillip
As Melbourne’s population hits 5 million, it’s a reminder that growing cities must make much better use of vacant and underused land to meet the urgent need for affordable housing.
Luckily, monitoring systems at Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano allowed some warning before fissures opened up in 2018.
United States Geological Survey/AAP
Melbourne lies at the eastern end of a volcanic province, but when’s it going to blow? Understanding the geology of Melbourne and comparing it to Hawaii is really helpful in calculating risk.
Vienna knocked Melbourne out of its seven-year-long top spot as the ‘world’s most liveable city’.
from shutterstock.com
The world’s “most liveable city” ranking is based on an index designed for companies sending their employees overseas. It’s not relevant to the average person.
Melbourne’s temperatures have periodically spiked far beyond what its residents are used to.
AAP Image/Ellen Smith
Federation Square may be less than 20 years old, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be heritage listed. Heritage value depends on many things including cultural significance
In 1988, The Age was ranked the most influential institution in Melbourne.
ELAINE TO
The Age Charter of Editorial Independence – the first document of its type in Australia – first emerged in 1988. It was defended time and again over the following three decades.
Melbourne in 1846: a view from Collingwood. T. E. Prout.
State Library of Victoria
Ngár-go (Fitzroy), Quo-yung (Richmond), Yálla-birr-ang (Collingwood), and Bulleke-bek (Brunswick), are just some of the Woiwurrung names uncovered in the notebooks of a 19th century anthropologist.
Some fanciful plans were imagined for Melbourne back in the day – some included jet cars.
C.F. Beauvais in the Argus Weekend Magazine, August 28, 1943/Trove
We have forgotten how to be imaginative when planning our cities. Looking back into Melbourne’s planning history, we might be able to find some inspiration to tackle rapid growth in a creative way.
Green rooftops give a backyard feel to smaller housing units in Sydney
Author Provided
Research shows if Australia encourages greenery on buildings, it will reduce temperatures in the city, as well as potential for flash flooding. It also creates new habitats and socialising spaces.
oBike was the first dockless bike sharing scheme in Australia.
DANIEL POCKETT/AAP
Dockless or stationless bike sharing is risky business, relying a bit too much on common decency. Bike sharing schemes can work, but they may need to forego user convenience for bike safety.
A homeless man sleeps on a tram shelter bench on Batman Avenue, Melbourne, 1990s.
William Bowers/Museums Victoria
When the city centre was revitalised in the 1990s, homeless people were pushed out. With homelessness rising today, it’s important to recognise the links between urban development and displacement.
In the 1970s, both Kyoto and Melbourne made fateful decisions about their transport networks. Melbourne today enjoys the benefits of trams, while Kyoto lives with the consequences of losing them.
In contrast to most big airports where public transport provides a large proportion of passenger access, 86% of access to Melbourne Airport is by car.
David Crosling/AAP
Good public access for Melbourne Airport and others like it depends on not fixating on one solution, like a single rail line, but instead developing multiple options integrated with the city’s needs.
Sydney’s WestConnex is being constructed as a “high priority” project, despite its business case failing to meet Infrastructure Australia’s stated requirements.
Ben Rushton/AAP
Analysis of the business cases for three of the biggest projects deemed “high priority” by Infrastructure Australia raises questions about the process.
Historic investments in green open space along the Yarra created a legacy of liveability in Melbourne.
Ispas Vlad/Shutterstock
Australian cities are experiencing the third big wave of growth in their history. The response in the past was planning and investment in green infrastructure, and it’s time to do the same again.
The ‘Bicycle Snake’ in Copenhagen separates pedestrians and cyclists, allowing both to navigate the city more safely.
Cycling Embassy of Denmark/DISSING+WEITLING
New analysis reveals just how little is spent on cycling and walking projects around Australia. No state’s spending on cycling is more than 1.5% of its road funding.