Launched 5 June 2019 – World Environment Day
Resilient Melbourne in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have developed Living Melbourne: our metropolitan urban forest – a bold new strategy for a greener, more liveable Melbourne. A flagship action of the Resilient Melbourne strategy Living Melbourne presents a transformative approach to respond to urban challenges with nature.
Living Melbourne is the cumulative result of over two years of collaboration to develop the evidence base and actions required to connect, extend and enhance urban greening across the metropolitan area. In an unprecedented effort, Living Melbourne has been endorsed by 41 organisations representing local government, Victorian government, water authorities, statutory agencies and industry bodies.
Living Melbourne aims to create a profound shift in the way we think about, value and grow Melbourne into the future.
Living Melbourne comprises three parts:
- The strategy
- Strategy overview
- Technical Report
The Strategy
(47MB)
Strategy overview (11MB)
Technical report -
(low resolution, 18MB)
Technical report -
(high resolution, 152MB)
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Why does Melbourne need an urban forest strategy?
Building resilience in the face of urban challenges
Changes in urban form, a growing population and climate change – including increasing urban heat – leave Melbourne’s greenery vulnerable, and could severely compromise the benefits derived from urban nature like cleaner air and water, reduced heat and habitat for wildlife.
Melbourne needs a plan to reverse this current and future decline and sustain Melbourne’s liveability for people and nature, across the entire city and its suburbs. Evidence strongly supports that thriving urban nature means healthier urban people.
Living Melbourne: our metropolitan urban forest is that plan. It’s a bold new strategy for a greener, more liveable Melbourne into the future. It presents a vision of international significance for its massive scale, its outstanding collaboration, and its use of new and innovative mapping technology.
The urban forest is made up of native and exotic trees, shrubs, grasslands and other vegetation, growing on public and private land across metropolitan Melbourne, and the soil and water that supports them. This includes vegetation in parks, reserves and private gardens; along railways, waterways, main roads and local streets; and on other green infrastructure such as green walls and roofs.
Urbanisation, globalisation and climate change are causing more people to move to cities. This presents a series of challenges which reduce and threaten the liveability of those cities. More than ever before, we need nature in our cities. Although growth brings tremendous opportunities for innovation and economic development, it also threatens the natural environment and the many ecosystems it provides to Melburnians.
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Beyond delivering critical services, nature provides our communities and economy with valuable co-benefits that build community resilience and support individual wellbeing. The integration of natural spaces in the urban environment helps solve important problems and improves the daily lives of a diverse and growing urban population.
We all have a part to play in creating a more Living Melbourne. Let us know if you’d like to be kept up to date or would like to get involved resilience@melbourne.vic.gov.au
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