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ABSTRACT
This paper continues the analysis of the management of urban waterways in Greater Melbourne, Australia, commenced with our first paper. We focus first on the increasing emphasis on waterways and their corridors as part of Melbourne’s liveability, and then on the future management of waterways and their corridors in the face of the three most pressing future challenges – climate change, population increase, and urban expansion and densification. The long history of the development of parks, gardens and open spaces in Melbourne is reviewed. These open-spaces initially occurred with quite strong linkage to the waterways, enabled by the city’s unique institutional arrangements, but were substantially weakened as a result of policy and governance reforms in the 1990s. Melbourne will need to substantially improve the integration of the management of urban waterways and their corridors with the planning, development and management of the city’s associated green spaces if it is to achieve the expected community liveability standards in the face of the above three future challenges. Additionally, if waterway management remains with the existing agency (Melbourne Water), the authorising environment and the culture and mindset of this agency will need to change its focus from the current ‘city servicing’ institutional model to a ‘city shaping’ model.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Ian Rutherfurd and Jonathan McLean for comments that improved this paper. We are grateful for comments made by two reviewers which helped to considerably improve the paper. We also thank Ying Quek for preparing .
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. https://www.melbournewater.com.au/water-data-and-education/water-facts-and-history/history-and-heritage/history-sewerage; https://cv.vic.gov.au/stories/built-environment/melbourne-and-smellbourne/
11. https://www.water.vic.gov.au/liveable/urban-water-strategies; this is being prepared by the Greater Melbourne retail water corporations – Greater Western Water, South East Water and Yarra Valley Water – in collaboration with the wholesaler Melbourne Water.
15. The Waterways Operating Charter and the level of waterways and drainage rates is assessed by the Essential Services Commission. Currently (2022), these charges are levied across 1.9 million properties and raise around $A1.2 billion over the current 5-year planning period.
17. We note that the current Labour government has indicated that the PPWP CMA is to be merged with Melbourne Water in January 2022.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Barry T Hart
Prof Barry Hart is currently Emeritus Professor at Monash University, Director of Water Science Pty Ltd, Chair of Alluvium Holdings, and Chair of the Goyder Institute for Water Research. He has a national and international reputation in the fields of natural resources decision-making (water quality and catchment management, environmental flows, water policy), ecological risk assessment and environmental chemistry. He has published widely and has also worked hard over the years to get research adopted in water policy and management. To this end has chaired or been a member of many scientific inquiries, reviews and advisory committees. He has received several awards, including being made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2012.
Matt Francey
Dr Matt Francey is CEO of the Alluvium Group an Australian environmental consulting firm. He is a Director of Natural Capital Economics, Mosaic Insights and EcoFutures. He worked at Melbourne Water for 9 years prior to joining Alluvium, where he was the Manager of River Health and before that led the Stormwater Team. He has a PhD in environmental engineering focussing on stormwater pollution from Monash University.
Chris Chesterfield
Prof Chris Chesterfield is a Professor of Practice at the Monash Sustainable Development Institute where he is a key strategic thinker and research leader with a focus on water governance, urban and water planning and city scale transitions to more sustainable and liveable futures. He held roles as General Manager at Melbourne Water and CEO of the Office of Living Victoria before joining Monash University. He is Chair of the Victorian Environmental Water Holder and the Birrarung Council, a new statutory body established under the Willp-gin Birrarung murron Act as the ‘voice for the Yarra River’.
Dom Blackham
Dr Dom Blackham is a geographer with a particular interest in the role nature can play in supporting community health, wellbeing and resilience in cities. He is a Senior Consultant at Mosaic Insights, and has a PhD in waterway management.
Neil McCarthy
Neil McCarthy is a Board member of Mosaic Insights and World Urban Parks Strategic Advisor. He was CEO of World Urban Parks from 2018 to 2022, CEO of the North East Catchment Management Authority for 6 years and prior to that was for 12 years as a General Manager of Corporate Strategy at Park Victoria. Neil is an international leader in natural resource management with a strong focus on policy and strategy, especially parks and waterways. He has been responsible for leading some of the most significant global initiatives in parks management, including Parks Victoria’s ‘Healthy Parks, Healthy People’ program, the review of the International Federation of Parks and Recreation Administration (as President Elect), and implementation of World Urban Parks (as Vice Chair). He is also a Member of the World Commission of Protected Areas (IUCN).