AUSTRALIA MELBOURNE FOURTH SUCCESSIVE YEAR IN A ROW HAS BEEN DECLARED MOST LIVEABLE CITY IN THE WORLD BEATING VIENNA VANCOUVER TORONTO WHICH WAS HAVING POPULATION OF 4000 IN 1837 WILL HAVE 7.7 MILLION POPULATION BY 2050 AND EVERY YEAR 90000 PEOPLE ARRIVING TO LIVE AND IS HOME TO A FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX A TRENDY RESTAURANT AND BAR CULTURE AND WORLD CLASS ART GALLERY AND RESIDENTS ENJOY HIGH WAGES AND SAFE ENVIRONMENT AND GOVT TO SPEND A$ 27 BILLION ON INFRASTRUCTURE IN NEXT 4 YEARS 20TH SEPTEMBER 2014 It is home to a Formula One grand prix, a trendy restaurant and bar culture, and a world-class art gallery, while its residents enjoy high wages and a safe environment. These are a few of the attributes that helped Melbourne retain its crown as the world’s most “liveable city” this year for a fourth successive year in rankings compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit. There are very few cities with this amount of green space, parks and tree-lined streets,” says Peter Seamer, chief executive of Melbourne’s Metropolitan Planning Authority. Last month Melbourne narrowly beat Vienna, Vancouver and Toronto to the top of a “global liveability” list that featured an impressive seven cities from Canada and Australia in its top 10. “Liveability” is not an exact science. But other quality-of-life surveys compiled by the consulting firm Mercer also rate Melbourne highly. “What we tend to find is that cities with fairly low population density, with good infrastructure and plenty of cultural amenities score highly,” says Jon Copestake of the Economist Intelligence Unit. Admiring the Melbourne cityscape from his 29th-floor office, Seamer pays tribute to former planners, whom he credits with protecting the Victorian character of the city while supporting innovative urban design and a consistent approach to planning. The “Hoddle Grid” system, conceived by the surveyor Robert Hoddle, was first laid out in 1837 and provided a grand vision for what was at the time a tiny city with 4,000 inhabitants. The gold rush in Victoria in the 1850s transformed Melbourne into one of the world’s richest and fastest-growing cities. Some 150 years later, Melbourne is again enjoying the fruits of a mining boom and rapid growth. Every year 90,000 people come to live in the city and by 2050 the city’s population is expected to almost double to 7.7m people. Strong population figures have helped property prices rise by 10 per cent in a year amid a flood of overseas investment. The Melbourne-based Golden Age Group, which is owned by Chinese-born developer Jeff Xu, is currently marketing apartments in the 75-storey Victoria One tower. Prices for one- to three-bedroom apartments range from A$370,000 (US$333,000) to A$900,000 (US$812,000). A rival 100-storey high-rise apartment project backed by Singaporean developer World Class Land is expected to come to market next year. When completed in 2019, according to the developers, it will become the southern hemisphere’s tallest residential building. Rentals in Melbourne have been stable, but as values jump by 10 per cent passing rental yields have fallen slightly,” says Ged Rockliff, head of residential projects at Savills Australia. “For the right projects that are close to amenities or major attractions there are good strong rental yields of about 4 per cent and we see continued interest from international investors for this stock.” Providing services in a fast-growing city without undermining its liveability is a challenge for the state government, which is spending A$27bn on infrastructure over the next four years. Fears of traffic disruption and forced evictions due to construction work are generating opposition to some schemes, particularly the 18km-long East West Link, a road project in the northern suburbs. The city has a thriving café culture “We want to address congestion, better enable people to move around the city and get to their places of work, and present ourselves as a place to establish businesses,” says Peter Ryan, deputy premier of the state of Victoria. Melbourne’s sporting infrastructure is a big draw for business. The Olympic Park precinct includes the 100,000-seat Melbourne Cricket Ground and the venue for the Australian Open tennis championship, the Rod Laver arena. “Sport is very important to Melbourne. It is part of the fabric of the city – almost a religion,” says Penny Blunden, project manager for Major Projects Victoria, which is overseeing a A$700m upgrade of the city’s tennis centre. Global liveability surveys, which are aimed at foreign business executives, tend not to focus on conditions in Melbourne’s fast-growing outer suburbs such as Whittlesea. “In the last 10 years we have had about 90,000 people coming to live in the Whittlesea area, but like many other areas in the outer suburbs we have a dire lack of infrastructure,” says Griff Davis, advocacy manager at the City of Whittlesea. Whittlesea, which is located about 60km north of Melbourne’s central business district, is one of the fastest-growing municipalities in Australia with a population of about 180,000. The city has complained to the state and federal governments that its schools are bursting at the seams. “We estimate over 10 years we have an infrastructure deficit of A$350m,” says Davis. The challenges faced by Melbourne’s outer suburbs are compounded by the sprawling nature of the city. “It’s a great city to be in if you are lucky enough to live close to the centre, but my questions are: is it equally liveable for everyone and could we do better?” says Carolyn Whitzman, professor of urban planning at the University of Melbourne. She says Melbourne’s outer suburbs score poorly on the Vampire index, an Australian comparative assessment of areas’ vulnerability to metrics such as petrol price rises and inflation. Local government has prioritised road building over public transport, she says. With the median house price in Melbourne at A$570,000, most newcomers have no option but to buy in the suburbs. Buyers in parts of Whittlesea can pick up a three-bedroom house for about A$300,000. Real estate agent Millership & Co is currently marketing a four-bedroom house on St Rafael Place with a guide price of A$390,000-A$420,000. The challenges faced by Melbourne’s outer suburbs are compounded by the sprawling nature of the city. “It’s a great city to be in if you are lucky enough to live close to the centre, but my questions are: is it equally liveable for everyone and could we do better?” says Carolyn Whitzman, professor of urban planning at the University of Melbourne. She says Melbourne’s outer suburbs score poorly on the Vampire index, an Australian comparative assessment of areas’ vulnerability to metrics such as petrol price rises and inflation. Local government has prioritised road building over public transport, she says. With the median house price in Melbourne at A$570,000, most newcomers have no option but to buy in the suburbs. Buyers in parts of Whittlesea can pick up a three-bedroom house for about A$300,000. Real estate agent Millership & Co is currently marketing a four-bedroom house on St Rafael Place with a guide price of A$390,000-A$420,000. Back at the planning authority, Seamer says he is aware of the risks posed by rapid population growth and continuing urban sprawl. From a drawer in his desk he pulls out several maps showing five new higher-density precincts in the inner suburbs that are expected to house 1.5m people by 2050. “We need to strike a balance by increasing population density near rail lines while maintaining green spaces,” he says. “If we don’t keep up with the infrastructure requirement, Melbourne will fall behind, but if we can deliver the city will move ahead.”
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 03:40:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015