18.07.2024Living in Melbourne 2024 report

In July, Committee for Melbourne released its Living in Melbourne 2024 report, which surveyed 1,000 Melbourne residents about their quality of life in the city.

Read the Living in Melbourne 2024 report

View the media release

See the article in The Age

Watch 7 News report

View 7 News interview with CEO, Mark Melvin

Read the Sky News article

See the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader article

Read the Time Out article 

The results are overwhelmingly positive, with 81% of Melburnians stating satisfaction with the city’s quality of life! They cherish safety, quality health surfaces, short travel times, reliable public transport and affordable housing.

This is unsurprising to us, given the city’s many great attributes. However, with our population predicted to reach 9 million by mid-century, the Committee is eager to understand what can be done to improve Melburnians’ quality of life.

While there was overall satisfaction with the city, 37% of respondents believed that quality of life had decreased in the past year. There were clear areas where Melburnians believe quality of life can be improved, such as affordable housing, public transport and greater connectivity.

Melbourne’s sprawling suburbs are creating challenges for residents’ living choices, commuting patterns, and daily activities – with the report showing that those in outer suburbs are commuting longer than those that live in inner suburbs.

And unsurprisingly, given the geographic spread of the city, Melbourne’s car culture is starkly highlighted in the responses to the survey – with 72% using this mode of transport to travel to and from work or study, compared to lower rates of commuting by trains (36%), trams (28%) and buses (16%).

However, public transport is still valued, with 64% of Melburnians rating it as a crucial factor in choosing where to live. Melburnians are also very supportive of the Victorian Government investing in major infrastructure projects such as Melbourne Airport Rail and bus reform.

Our city’s growth model of urban sprawl is impacting liveability such as connectivity and access to transport and amenities. Affordable housing and public transport connectivity were identified as critical areas needing improvement. A suggestion to fix these issues is to increase suburban density. While there maintains resistance to this, the survey indicates that strategic trade-offs, such as investments in public transport and affordable housing, could garner support by making denser living more appealing.

With a greater understanding of what people value and believe needs improving — affordable housing, more public transport, to name a couple — we have an exciting opportunity to create policies and plans to foster a continual positive quality of life.

The Living in Melbourne 2024 report highlights that there are clear areas Melburnians believe the city can do better:

• Barriers to using public transport are driving the reliance on cars, more than three quarters (77%) experience challenges in accessing public transport in Melbourne. Overcrowding on public transport was the most common specific issue (24%), followed by expense (22%), public transport not going where needed (20%) and safety (19%).
• Housing is a pertinent issue for Melburnians; affordability of housing in general is regarded as a top issue and worryingly 57% report finding that cost of living pressures is impacting their ability to pay for housing expenditures.
• Only half of Melburnians (51%) agree that they feel connected to their local community (with agreement increasing with age), but three quarters (75%) identify as a Melburnian (again, this agreement increases with age).

We have an opportunity to use this data to help drive and plan policies that will not only maintain the overwhelming positive quality of life but continue to improve it for everyone.

For any media enquiries, please contact Leanne Edwards, Director of Policy & Advocacy at ledwards@melbourne.org.au