A book about past, present and future planning for the city of Melbourne.

For more than a decade, Melbourne has had the fastest-growing population of any Australian capital city. It is expanding outward while also growing upward through vast new high-rise developments in the inner suburbs. With an estimated 1.6 million additional homes needed by 2050, planners and policymakers need to address current and emerging issues of amenity, function, productive capacity and social cohesion today.

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to the public launch of Planning Melbourne: Lessons for a Sustainable City, the latest book from RMIT’s Centre for Urban Research academics, Professor Michael Buxton, Professor Robin Goodman and Dr Susie Moloney.

Planning Melbourne reflects on planning since the post-war era, but focuses on the past two decades and the ways that key government policies and influential individuals and groups have shaped the city during this time.

The book examines past debates and policies, the choices planners have faced and the mistakes and sound decisions that have been made. Current issues are also addressed, including housing affordability, transport choices, protection of green areas and heritage and urban consolidation.

If Melbourne’s identity is to be shaped as a prospering, socially integrated and environmentally sustainable city, a new approach to governance and spatial planning is needed and this book provides a call to action.

The book will be available on the night of the launch for the discounted price of $47.99 and is also available to purchase via publisher CSIRO Publishing online.

We hope you can join us to celebrate this milestone.

Drinks and refreshments will be provided.