The refreshed Plan Melbourne has been released, and with it comes a strengthened emphasis on creating a city of inclusive, vibrant and healthy neighbourhoods.
At the heart of Plan Melbourne is a focus on creating 20 minute neighbourhoods. The 20-minute neighbourhood is all about ‘living locally’ – giving people the ability to meet most of their everyday needs such as access to schools, childcare, shops, meeting places and open spaces within a 20-minute walk, cycle or local public transport trip of home. It is also about making better use of public land to create more parks and green spaces.
The Department of Health and Human Services worked with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, the Heart Foundation and a range of local councils to identify the hallmarks of a 20-minute neighbourhood. Together, these organisations agreed that a 20-minute neighbourhood must:
- be safe, accessible and well connected for pedestrians and cyclists to optimise active transport
- offer high-quality public realm and open space
- provide services and destinations that support local living
- facilitate access to quality public transport that connects people to jobs and higher-order services
- deliver housing/population at densities that make local services and transport viable
- facilitate thriving local economies.
This partnership is now moving towards implementation, with a recent masterclass - 'It should take 20 minutes' - involving multiple sectors including health, education, transport and planning to embed the 20 minute neighbourhood concept across the Victorian Government. Implementation is further supported by the recent release of the Heart Foundation’s Healthy Active by Design web portal for Victoria.
By working together across sectors, the aim is to create a healthy, more active Melbourne that supports the health and wellbeing of our people.
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