Melbourne Residents Share Top Ideas for City Improvement
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Melbourne Residents Share Top Ideas for City Improvement
- Nearly 12,000 Melbourne residents recently voted on 20 ideas to enhance the city's liveability, with airport rail emerging as a significant priority.
- The "Melbourne Assembly" in October 2026 will further explore these and other urban development concepts with experts like Carlos Moreno and former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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Melbourne residents have voiced their opinions on ways to improve the city’s liveability, with a recent survey gathering nearly 12,000 responses on 20 proposed ideas. The feedback comes in anticipation of the “Melbourne Assembly,” a conference scheduled for October 19-21, 2026, at the Edge Centre, co-hosted by a local newspaper and the University of Melbourne. This event aims to bring together experts, including Carlos Moreno, known for the “15-Minute City” concept, and former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, to discuss Melbourne’s future as its population is projected to reach 9 million by 2050.
Among the ideas presented, the Melbourne Airport Rail Link garnered considerable attention. Recent polls indicate strong public support for the project, with almost 70 percent of Victorians favoring its construction over the Suburban Rail Loop. Despite being a high priority for the Victorian Premier, Ben Carroll, the project faces escalating costs, now potentially exceeding $13 billion, up from earlier estimates of $8 billion to $13 billion.
Other topics in the survey included the potential scrapping of VCE exams, which have faced criticism for errors in recent years. There have been calls for an urgent overhaul and independent investigations into the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) following compromised exams in 2023 and 2024. Uniform building height limits were also a point of discussion, with new planning laws in February 2026 allowing buildings up to 20 storeys in some activity centers, though community consultation has led to scaled-back limits in certain suburbs. Melbourne’s arts scene, which received high praise from locals in the Time Out 2026 Best Cities ranking, was also part of the conversation on city improvements. The city was ranked the world’s best city by Time Out in March 2026 and third most liveable globally by the Economist Intelligence Unit in July 2026.