Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria, Australia. It is widely heralded as a relatively liveable city thanks to its good public transport system (by Australian standands), its relatively clean environment and active cultural life.

The city also has multiple challenges:

  • Government plans to extend freeways rather than public transport.
  • Water pollution, of creeks and Port Phillip Bay. The Yarra River is heavily loaded with sediment as a result of erosion, owing to the agriculture that has developed since European settlement.
  • Urban sprawl, with large areas of the city dependent on cars and spending extended periods in traffic.

Context

Melbourne has a temperate climate with changeable weather and frequent winds. Suitable urban design for these conditions must include windbreaks and sheltered nooks, for example small parks which catch the sun in the colder months but offer protection from wind.

Urban sprawl is very advanced, but public transport is relatively good, by Australian standards, especially within approximately 10 km of the city centre.

Sustainability initiatives

Melbourne, like other large cities, has multiple sustainability initiatives going on. Some of these are:

In 2014, a new deliberative democratic forum, The Future Melbourne Network, was launched to discuss options and solutions to major challenges facing Melbourne, in areas such as housing, transport, and including issues such as climate change.

See also the external links to high-level projects below.

Initiatives by topic

Cycling

Critical Mass bicycle rides in Melbourne

Wikipedia:

Cycling in Melbourne is common for recreation, commuting and sport. The city has an extensive network of off-road bicycle paths, as well as designated bicycle lanes on many streets. There is an active cycling culture enhanced by a relatively flat topography, and a generally mild climate.
In the 21st century, cycling for health, fitness, and as a non-polluting alternative to the automobile has begun to increase in popularity once again, though cycling's transport modal share still accounts for only around 2% of all trips throughout the metropolitan area.
In the Central Business District (population appx 70K) figures put cycling at 8% of all peak-hour (7am-10am) commuter traffic. Planning for improvements to CBD bicycles routes and other major arterial routes is underway.
Bike paths in Melbourne
Melbourne Bike Share is a bicycle sharing system that serves the central business district. The stations and bicycles are owned by the government and operated in a public-private partnership with Alta Bicycle Share. Launched in 2010, the network utilizes a system designed by Montreal-based Bixi with 600 bicycles operating from 51 stations. Melbourne Bike Share is one of two such systems in Australia.
Melbourne Bike Share has experienced low ridership in comparison to other bicycle sharing networks in operation around the world. As of May 2011, users made about 13,000 trips each month, short of the goal of 25,000 trips per month. Observers have noted that local law requires all cyclists to wear helmets, which suppresses the number of people who can regularly use the system. Melbourne and Brisbane are the only cities in the world with a bicycle sharing network that have a mandatory helmet law. In November 2010, the Victoria state government began offering helmet rentals at selected stations in an attempt to increase both ridership and helmet usage.
To counter continued poor usage, the Victorian Government decided in May 2013 to trial free helmet sharing by attaching the helmets to the handlebars of a portion of the bike share fleet.

Resources

Calendar

2015

February 7 - 28 The Melbourne Sustainable Living Festival/Foundation, held annually every February.

Citizens data initiative

City of Melbourne Open Data portal

See also

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Interwiki

External links

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