The Victorian capital has long touted its position as a city of architecture, design, and ‘liveability’; in fact it was consecutively ranked as the world’s most liveable city between 2011 to 2017.
But in the time since, an unprecedented building boom has resulted in a city with severe wind tunnels, streets lined with multi-storey carparks, and towers that give little back to the street — a trend that some say dampen the city’s ‘liveable’ credentials.
This includes the City of Melbourne’s Deputy Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece, who says Melbourne has allowed too much “crap” to be built, resulting in nothing more than “spreadsheets in the sky”.
He — along with fellow councillors and the council’s City Design Studio — have worked on a new design excellence program, which includes two new design advisory panels made up of stakeholders who are invested in the city: architects, urbanists, public space advocates, transport researchers, and more.
With the program having been approved by council last month, Councillor Reece joins Blueprint to explain how this will all work in practice… and why Melbourne has to thank Sydney for this.
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