Melbourne to become one of the world's top 10 most liveable and sustainable cities

Wednesday, 30 July 2008

By 2020, per capita greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 35 per cent per resident and 59 per cent per worker under a target identified in 'Future Melbourne' - the most ambitious community consultation project ever undertaken by the City of Melbourne.

Around 15,000 individuals, businesses, organisations and community groups from across Melbourne and the globe have participated in the Future Melbourne consultation program.

After over 13 months of extensive community consultation, participation and collaboration, the 'Future Melbourne' Reference Group will tonight hand over the draft plan to Council for consideration at its September meeting.

Lord Mayor John So said Future Melbourne had been the most ambitious community consultation project ever undertaken by the City of Melbourne.

"This extensive collaboration has ensured a rich and robust Future Melbourne draft plan. In accepting this plan from the community for consideration, I wish to express our gratitude to the Reference Group members and our project partners who have committed so much time and effort to this landmark project," the Lord Mayor said.

Planning Committee Chair, Councillor Catherine Ng, said the draft plan aimed to build on Melbourne's liveability and become one of the world's top 10 most sustainable cities.

"Future Melbourne is the community of Melbourne's long-term plan for the future direction of all aspects of city life. Developed by the community, it sets out the goals for the future, key trends and challenges, and outlines strategic growth areas for the city," Cr Ng said.

Future Melbourne sets out six goals:

1. A city for people
2. A prosperous city
3. An eco-city
4. A knowledge city
5. A creative city
6. A connected city.

A selection of 10 headline targets have been identified to measure progress towards the six Future Melbourne goals for the municipality by 2020. These include:

1. all visitors to and residents of the city feel welcome, safe and engaged;
2. all residents, businesses and visitors easily and affordably access the internet;
3. at least 140,000 people live in the municipality of Melbourne;
4. at least 20 per cent of new housing in the municipality is affordable or social housing;
5. total employment in the municipality is more than 400,000;
6. per capita greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 have reduced by 35 per cent per resident and 59 per cent per worker from 2006 levels;
7. per capita drinking water use by 2020 has reduced by 40 per cent per resident and 50 per cent per worker compared to 2000 levels;
8. metropolitan Melbourne is ranked in the world's top research centres;
9. metropolitan Melbourne is ranked in the world's top five cities for international higher education; and
10. 90 per cent of people travel to work in the Melbourne CBD by walking, bicycle and or public transport.

Future Melbourne Reference Group Chair, Carol Schwartz, said the Future Melbourne draft plan was developed by engaging with Melbourne's many communities. More >>

Public editing winds down, discussion pages remain open

Our thanks for all the contributions we received during our recent consultation period. Your ideas, comments and edits will help shape the future of our city towards 2020 and beyond. Between 17 May and 14 June, over six and a half thousand people visited the site. The contributions will now be reviewed by the Future Melbourne team to organise, refine and incorporate the wide range of ideas into the plan in the best possible way. For further information on how we will measure the level of engagement please consult our strategy: "From Consultation to Participation".

If you have any questions about the wiki or our public consultation process please see our Future Melbourne wiki FAQ, or contact one of our representatives.

Thank you for participating in the Future Melbourne wiki and contributing to our shared vision and goals for Melbourne in 2020 and beyond!

Please note: Whilst our discussion pages for each topic remain open, comments can no longer be officially considered by the Future Melbourne team.

Hot tip

You can now contact other registered members on the wiki using the messaging function. After logging in, a button next to your name enables you to "Leave a message" for another user. More >>

Future Melbourne Blog
Carol Schwartz, Reference Group Chair
Hi. I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Carol Schwartz. As Chair of the Future Melbourne Reference Group, I have been appointed by the City of Melbourne, together with the other reference group members to gather together from all concerned, passionate, and involved Melburnians, all the great ideas that are bubbling away out there. I will then pull them together and present them to the Councillors as a basis for formulating their strategic planning.   More »

Latest Media Clippings
Latest Press Releases

Newsletter Find out what's happening all across Future Melbourne with our weekly newsletter.

*Video update* Find out what's happening all across Future Melbourne with our video updates.

Future Melbourne on the Web

Click here for Future Melbourne Events