Melbourne's Rapid Growth

Another hotly debated topic recently in VIC is about building high density housing nearby to tram and bus routes. The main reason for such proposal is due to the unexpected influx of migrants coming to Melbourne.

We're expecting another 4-5million people coming to Melbourne by 2030! Current population is about 4million. So, we're growing quite rapidly hence the proposal doesn't come unexpectedly too. However, it's funny to see Victorians always seems reject any new ideas!


Some of the reasons: high density creates more social problems, blocking their views, infrastructures problems, etc.


They're not totally wrong either. However, can they come up with better solutions to cope with the growth? At present time, Melbourne is struggling with 4mil people on its' land. Basically, nearly all performance indices have dropped.


High density is definitely the way to go to cope with such growth. Having said that, there're a lot of implications and requirements as well.


Have you ever played Sim City? Since I'm not an urban planner, the best way for me to know is play Sim City :P


In that game, you can see all the problems in high density housing if other infrastructures can't cope with it. I faced with unemployment problems (Sims do not like travelling much!), overcrowded buses and trains, heavy congestions on highways, and massive resources (water & electricity) usage. However, without the high density housing, the city can't cope with the increasing populations. If more migrants can't come it, the economy will stall, city becomes less desirable, etc.


So the moral of the story is to build infrastructures to support the high density housing as well. It's so important yet always neglected or categorized as 2nd or 3rd level priority only.

If you can fit an extra 4-5 mil people but you can hardly move them, that'll be a major problem.

If you can fit an extra 4-5 mil people but they can't earn a living, that'll be a major problem.

If you can fit an extra 4-5 mil people but you can't fulfill their needs, that'll be a major problem.


Another alternative is to develop other existing satellite cities in Melbourne like Geelong , Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Mildura, Warrnambool and the Latrobe Valley. They seriously lack too far behind from Melbourne.