It’s not too late to tackle Melbourne’s urban sprawl but it will require big changes, says a major new report.
Infrastructure Victoria has a plan to double the number of medium and high rise buildings in Melbourne’s city centre to around 130 more high rise apartments and 20 more medium rise apartments.
It sounds the alarm on the social, environmental and economic costs if Melbourne’s growth continues to be predominantly in outer suburbs, where 56 per cent of the city’s development has been occurring. Infrastructure Victoria is also calling for improved infrastructure planning that directly informs funding decisions; the removal of taxes and subsidies that drive sprawl; and planning changes to encourage more compact cities.
The report sets out five scenarios: dispersed city; consolidated city; compact city; network of cities; and distributed state. A dispersed city would require 154,000 more cars than a compact city, meaning more congestion on roads and 17.3 million tonnes more emissions from trucks and cars. Corcoran, who is president of the Docklands Residents Group, said that while she missed the space of the larger homes she used to live in, she enjoyed the collegiality of the apartment building and the easy access to transport and all the city had to offer.
“Greenfields still play a very strong role in delivering housing supply, particularly at the moment where there are challenges in delivering medium to high-density housing solutions,” she said, referring to areas on Melbourne’s fringe.