Resources

Future Melbourne Glossary

See the Future Melbourne Glossary

What is a Community Plan ?

A broad consensus has emerged based on the following common features of community planning:

• Engagement of citizens in creating a vision for the future, setting priorities and contributing to decision-making.
• Valuing and utilising local networks.
• A focus on people and place that requires a more flexible and joined-up approach to policy and service delivery.
• Connecting top-down and bottom-up policy processes that influence resource allocation.

Although approaches to community planning have been varied, it has become common practice for local governments to develop "community plans" alongside their council plans. Community plans are more inspirational, longer term, involve more extensive community consultation and deal with matters often outside local governments' domain and direct control.

Community planning is seen to be a natural expression of democracy in a way that links participatory democracy to representative democracy and budget decisions. It also has been recognised that community planning processes have inherent value in strengthening governments' mandates, building trust in government, mobilising support, facilitating the implementation of government initiatives and improving the effectiveness of service delivery. Community planning also contributes to stronger, more resilient communities that grow from the inside out and build on local strengths and assets, often finding solutions to problems that cannot be seen or imposed from above.

There is common agreement that community planning needs to be resourced to be effective. It requires money, skills and strong backing from all levels of government. In particular it requires all levels of government to be responsive to the outcomes of community planning processes. This involves information about decision making processes, action taken on priorities emerging from local planning and how agreed priorities translate into budget commitments.

common features of community planning:

• An evolutionary process that changes and develops over time as each council, and their communities, gain experience and confidence;
• Endorsed by councillors and senior management as a legitimate and important function for local government;
• Guided by a set of community planning policies and processes separate from council's other planning policies;
• Intended to be integrally linked to councils other planning processes;
• Generally characterised by a process that includes high levels of community engagement and a desire for community ownership of plans;
• A staged process which includes the production of a plan as an outcome of
• Stage one and it's implementation in Stage two; and
• Supported with Council resources (sometimes this is existing resources and sometimes additional).

The above is an extract from Planning Together - Lessons from local government community planning in Victoria. Final Report December 2007. Department of Planning and Community Development. Victoria

Strategic Plans of other Capital Cities

Sydney Sydney 2030. April 2008. City of Sydney

Tokyo Tokyo's Big Change - The 10-Year Plan. December 2006. Tokyo Metropolitan Government

New York PlaNYC 2030. New York City Plan. December 2006. New York City Government.

London The London Plan. The Mayor of Greater London.

University of Melbourne Future Melbourne research papers

A series of papers prepared for the Future Melbourne project by scholars of the University of Melbourne.

Cultural Melbourne: A paper prepared for the City of Melbourne Future Melbourne project by the University of Melbourne, 2008.

Liveable Melbourne: A paper prepared for the City of Melbourne Future Melbourne project by the University of Melbourne, 2008.

Melbourne as a Medicine/Science City: A paper prepared for the City of Melbourne Future Melbourne project by the University of Melbourne, 2008.

City of Melbourne Research

The City of Melbourne provides statistics, information and analysis on a variety of subjects, including:

• people living and/or working in the city;
• building and land use;
• social, cultural and community issues;
• tourism;
• economic and business activity; and
• environmental indicators.

City of Melbourne Research

City of Melbourne Facts, Figures and Projections

The City of Melbourne will continue growing through to 2020. The following document contains detailed statistical information on the current state of play and the likelihood of where we're heading.

Facts, Figures and Projections - PDF 4.65MB

Issues Papers written by City of Melbourne Research

Oil Prices (Draft) Oil Prices - Microsoft Word 906k
Emerging Technology (Draft) Future Technology - Microsoft Word 81kb
Benchmarking and Liveability Benchmarking & Liveability Report - Microsoft Word 1.9MB
Global City Concept Global Cities Concept - Microsoft Word 1.8MB
Property Watch Snapshots, please see City of Melbourne Property Watch website
Social Cohesion (Draft) Social Cohesion Study - Microsoft Word 69kb
Analysis of Population and HousingHousing and Population - Microsoft Word 1.5MB
Key Census Indicators ABS_Census_City of Melbourne_Key_Indicators - Microsoft Word 2.3MB
Population Forecasts, please see City of Melbourne Population Forecasts website

City of Melbourne: Future Trends

Presentation presented by Austin Ley at the Future Melbourne Leaders Forum on Friday 4 April, 2008.

Future Trends

Global Rankings

Anholt_City_Brands_Index 2006

Knowledge Melbourne - working papers

The original "Talking point: Knowledge Melbourne" draft strategic directions can be viewed below in their un-edited form in a single PDF document. They have been listed here for resource purposes, due to their comprehensive level of content. The views expressed are considered those of the authors'. Please note, any content suggestions should be directed to the Discussion page for the relevant Direction.

Knowledge Melbourne - PDF 168kb

YGen Group

This is a group for those 'Generation Y' thinkers and workers involved in Future Melbourne's planning process - bringing forward the 'Gen Y' voice, the voice of the next generation and long-term thinking; working with FM's partners; reviewing, integrating, and brainstorming for the future of our city.

Started in August 2007, YGen is a collection of 22 students, graduates and young professionals all under the age of 26 who have been meeting regularly to discuss the current issues and progression of the Future Melbourne project. The group was initiated by Jack Fuller, who is a member of the Future Sustainability Leaders program.

City of Melbourne Strategy Documents

In 2004 Professor Gehl and GEHL Architects were invited to Melbourne to update their previous studies on Public Spaces and Public Life in Melbourne. This series of studies examines the issues and opportunities regarding public space and collected data on public life. More information on the publication is available from here

Recent newspaper articles

The Age's supplement on the State Government's Melbourne 2030 plan 05/05/2008

• Building a better future.pdf
• Culture - a more lively city.pdf
• Energy - a carbon neutral city.pdf
• Transport - a better connected city.pdf
• Editorial on growth in Melbourne.pdf