7pm Thursday 9 Sept, RMIT Bldg 50, Orr St Carlton entry – gold coin donation
The State Government recently announced that Melbourne’s Urban Growth Boundary would be expanded by around four times the size of Phillip Island to accommodate 134,00 new houses (just over 3 dwellings per hectare – very low compared to the 10 dwellings/ha average for suburbs south-east of the CBD).
The decision was supported by the Coalition and applauded by housing and property industry groups which claimed the expansion would make housing more affordable.
But it also caused disbelief and dismay among other parts of the built environment profession – planning groups and the community in general.
Melbourne’s steady outward sprawl has been long criticised for pushing people further from jobs and services, forcing car dependence and subsuming much-needed agricultural land. Now it looks like the sprawl may be here to stay. But:
– is this really the answer to housing affordability?
– how does this expansion impact on social and ecological sustainability?
– what does this mean for Melbourne in general?
Join in this public forum as we explore these issues with a number of leading experts:
– Paul Mees, lecturer at RMIT GLobal Studies, Science & Social Planning
– Stuart Worn, CEO, Planning Institute of Australia
– Ian Wood, President, Save our Suburbs
– Tony Di Domenico, executive director, Urban Development Institute of Australia
– Carolyn Whitzman, associate professor in Urban Planning, University of Melbourne
– Kate Shaw, ARC research fellow, University of Melbourne
– Dianne Moy, project coordinator, Victorian Eco Innovation Lab
– Maree McPherson, CEO, Victorian Local Governance Association
chaired by Ian Woodcock, research fellow in Urban Design, University of Melbourne
words@bld50 – monthly talks in 2010 www.architectsforpeace.org
