Shaping Melbourne Taskforce
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The Shaping Melbourne Taskforce Report Volume One is here!
Established in 2009, the Shaping Melbourne Taskforce is led by Co-Chairs Ms Pru Sanderson, CEO, VicUrban, Mr Tom Fricke, Executive Manager, GHD, and Mr Roger Poole, Executive Chairman, Bates Smart.
The series of reports, released from June 2010 raise significant issues about Melbourne, under one general theme:
Melbourne: Getting better as we get bigger
In 2010 we can agree that over the years Melbourne has been slowly improving as it grows. Melbourne in 2010 is a better city than it was in 1960.
For Melbourne to continue to improve, we as a community need to debate, discuss and agree how to make our city better. In a series of Shaping Melbourne Taskforce reports of which this is but the first, the Committee for Melbourne will be challenging the community to hold these debates, have these discussions and reach agreement on Melbourne’s future.
Our current trend of improvement began in 1990 when we were ranked the world’s most liveable city. In the years that followed people started to choose Melbourne over other Australian and global centres and our city’s growth and reputation were advanced by its liveability, affordability and connectivity. As a result we are forecast to soon have the largest urban population in Australia and one of the most diverse in the world.
The question now is: How do we, as a community, continue to grow while preserving and improving upon what makes Melbourne great?
As we get bigger, planned growth gives us significant opportunity to further enhance our city’s hard won characteristics of liveability, affordability and connectivity. However, unlike in the past, we must now consider these in the context of climate change and greater needs for sustainability.
No one is sure when, but it is inevitable that Melbourne will continue to grow and we will certainly move beyond five million, possibly surpassing eight million in the late part of this century. It’s not a debate about the numbers; it’s a discussion about the timeline.
Our parents ensured that we became a better city today while they doubled from two to four million in their generation. As custodians of tomorrow, our generation must ensure our city continues to get better as we get bigger.
Our need for an agreed and long term, sustainable vision for Melbourne must address our:
• Ultimate land size and physical shape for our city;
• Optimal population densities of our central city and suburban residential areas;
• Physical and community infrastructure development;
• Location and character of central activities districts beyond the CBD;
• Role with our neighbouring and regional cities and how we connect.
At defining times in any city’s history great communities respond not with segmented thinking, but with visionary planning. Instead of incrementally responding with little or no agreed vision for the future, we will pass to our children the same challenge our parents passed to us:
Melbourne must get better as we get bigger.
The first booklet in the Shaping Melbourne Series will look at the Governance of Melbourne and propose a vision for our future. Governance is treated first as that will be the defining factor in how we grow. If we get the governance right, all other things flow. Over the coming months this booklet will be followed by three additional discussions on:
• Density
• Infrastructure
• Community Connectivity and Economy
At the conclusion of the series we will have the foundation of a debate that must continue in broad and detailed terms. Our community needs to come together to create direction for our political decision makers to agree the long-term vision for Melbourne and, moreover, to implement it.