Transforming Melbourne

Case Study 1. Transforming Melbourne

Executive Summary

Melbourne, the most populous city in the Victoria state of Australia. It is located in the south-eastern part of Australia, which is known as the world’s liveable city and often referred to as Australia's garden city.

In 1880, Melbourne had been called the Marvelous Melbourne, due to the gold rush that brings wealth and prosperity of urban migration. In the last few decades, Melbourne has experienced a dramatic change from a badlands turned into a fairyland. Back to the 19th century, there were a few numbers of people in Melbourne CBD besides workday, majority of people live in the suburbs, the city seemed in a coma. There were 2100 residents in 1993, while in 2013 there are 116431 residents. In the past, many gurus and authorities described Melbourne CBD as an unfilled, useless city centre, greatly a dead heart and very sleepy. Many professionals gradually be aware of the significance of bring the street life back, and attracting more people live in CBD. Since then, with permits and restrictions loosened, large population into CBD, the number of resident increased rapidly. At the same time, more and more building is constructed to accommodate the increasing population, and promote the development of the infrastructure. The traffic system developed, provide residents with greater convenience, and shortening the distance between the city and suburbs.

Melbourne is host Metropolis of Green Cities 2015. However, Melbourne’s current growth is not sustainable in fact. Melbourne population is expected to double in the next 20 or 30 years. And Melbourne is a greatly desirable destination for a lot of people and will attract more and more migrants. Large and rapidly growing populations will lead to numerous issues.  With the dramatic growth of population will lead to a rise in carbon dioxide and methane emissions, and affects our living environment and lead to climate change. There are likewise have other troubling trends, like increased traffic congestion and blight. Unfortunately, our bureaucracies as well as governments have not paid attention when Rachel Carson onwards have announced an alarm about the issues related to growth. In addition, the governments’ efforts to do some actions to impulse sustainable development are also significant. However, Clay Lucas mentioned that many recommendations of sustainable development strategies were being ignored by the governments. And some future plans for Melbourne sustainable development were drastically watered down by governments which limited to Melbourne’s growth and made Melbourne sustainable development more difficult.

A sustainable city is an innovative city, which is planned with consideration the impacts of environment, committed to minimization of required inputs of energy, water, food, air and water pollution. The aim of sustainable cities is to change the method they operate for the future generations benefits, ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social and environmental aspects. In summary, the sustainable city establishes an environmental and sustainable method that meets the needs of today as well as future generations needs.