Planning Melbourne and Victorian towns for accessibility and sustainable transport
Through better planning of our cities, suburbs and towns, we could actually decrease the demand for travel by cutting the need for people to travel as far or as often.
Melbourne is currently one of the largest sprawling cities on earth. With a population of less than four million people, Melbourne has one of the largest urban footprints of any city in the world. This sprawling leads to demand for more resources, more water, more energy and a greater need for transport than would otherwise be necessary. This way of life is totally unsustainable.
But we can redesign our cities, suburbs and towns so that people can shop, work, go to school and access services such as the doctor or dentist locally – reducing the need to travel long distances. We can also redesign our streets, footpaths, and local areas to make walking, cycling and catching public transport easier, faster and more accessible.
The Victorian Government committed to stopping Melbourne’s urban sprawl and unsustainable development in its planning blueprint Melbourne 2030.
But the actions of the government over the past several years aren’t matching its promises on urban planning. In fact, the Victorian Government is instead releasing large areas of new land on Melbourne’s fringe, expanding the urban growth boundary and further increasing demand for travel.
The Victorian Government could be doing much more to improve Melbourne’s transport system and make daily life easier at the same time. Instead of creating a sprawling city, the government could (and is now starting to) consolidate development into ‘Central Activity Districts’ with excellent access to services, education and employment.
The government could commit to develop housing along key tram and bus lines so that more people to live closer to the transport and services they need to use. This is what many cities around the world are doing, creating more vibrant neighbourhoods and more affordable lifestyle. Hop here for more info
Most importantly, the government needs to rebalance its planning and budget focus away from roads to quality sustainable transport and well-planned centers for Victorians. In its Victorian Transport Plan (2008) almost 70% of the $39 billion budget was earmarked for roads.
Environment Victoria wants to see this trend reversed and instead see 70% of the transport budget going to public and active transport.
The Victorian Government needs to stop major new road projects and put the money into sustainable transport – more trains, trams and buses, cycle and pedestrian routes.
Take action for a more sustainable transport system here
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