Benchmarking Melbourne report finds significant number of people not enjoying benefits of city’s liveability
A landmark report has revealed how Melbourne stacks up against 20 of the world’s great cities and exposes the flaws that are holding it back.
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Melbourne is on the cusp of becoming one of the world’s great cities, but is being held back because its prized services and attractions are not adequately spread to the outer suburbs, says a landmark report.
The Benchmarking Melbourne report identified “a tale of two cities” in which the central area provided “walkable cultural and dining options, easy access to sporting events … plenty of public transport and reliable internet”.
“But a significant number of people do not enjoy these benefits of Melbourne’s liveability,” it said.
Commissioned by prominent advocacy group the Committee for Melbourne and commercial real estate firm JLL, the report shows how Melbourne stacks up against 20 peer cities, including Sydney, Brisbane, London, Berlin, San Francisco, Toronto, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and how it might be improved.
Done by consultant The Business of Cities, the report also ranked Melbourne among many other cities after reviewing more than 100 global benchmark studies.
It found that Melbourne was:
- First out of 48 top cities for the number of train station and tram stops in the central city
- Second among 14 peers for climate policy actions
- Third out of 75 cities for cultural vibrancy and variety
- Third among 20 peers for providing exceptional sporting and cultural events
The report said that some key Melbourne strengths were hit hard by the pandemic, and while the city was expected to bounce back, “Melbourne can’t rest on its laurels”.
Melbourne was rated the 9th most congested city among its 20 peers, and ranked a lowly 295th out of more than 350 cities for walkability.
More than one-in-five Melburnians live within 500m of a regular transport service compared to 51 per cent in Berlin, 40 per cent in Toronto and 38 per cent in Milan.
And Melbourne is the sixth most unaffordable English-speaking metropolis for buying a home.
“In effect, the Melbourne metropolis may become a competitive disadvantage for the assets and capabilities concentrated in the inner city – which are all increasingly interdependent on the labour market, housing market, mobility systems and environmental resilience of the wider region,” the report said.
Committee for Melbourne CEO Martine Letts said Melbourne was on the cusp of becoming one of the great world metropolitan cities if the delivery of prosperity and affordable liveability for all residents was well planned.
“There’s got to be better connection between the inner suburbs and outer suburbs … and there are exciting projects in train like Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) and Melbourne Airport Rail Link,” she said.
“Not only do we want it to be easier for Melburnians to travel to their place of work, but also to be able to work more at home because some of the work will come to them through better connectivity.”
Padam Katai, 39, from western growth suburb Tarneit, said it was a good place for cheap houses.
“But there is still a lot of difference compared to the inner suburbs, when it comes to transport and infrastructure,” he said.
“Most of the people have to travel for their job, so we need more public transport.”
Ms Letts said that Greater Manchester had shown the benefits of spreading economic benefits more widely, and SRL could play a key role here.
“It could decentralise some of that knowledge work and the modern economy that we clearly have some good fundamentals for, it’s about transport connectivity, it’s about affordable housing,” she said.
The report found that Melbourne was lagging on productivity relative to its high education standards and performance, which was also an Australia-wide problem.
“GDP per capita in Melbourne is now 20 per cent below its peer group average, while household disposable income has also fallen relative to others,” it said.
JLL managing director and Committee for Melbourne board member Craig Shute said the city remained highly attractive for local and international students to live and study.
“There is an opportunity to convert students to long-term residents, locking in a skilled and educated future workforce to deliver the innovative-tech-led businesses of tomorrow,” he said.
The Benchmarking Melbourne report will be discussed at the online Future Melbourne summit to be held on Tuesday by the Committee for Melbourne.
START-UPS NOT STARTING UP
Melbourne’s self-perception as a world-leading technology and innovation hub has taken a hit in a key report comparing global cities.
The Benchmarking Melbourne study said that while the city had excellent university and research capabilities, other cities have tended to outperform Melbourne in luring risk capital for things like biotech ventures.
“Melbourne has yet to gain international recognition for many world-class specialisms and commercialised products,” it said.
“In general, capital raising companies in science and engineering industries are still thinner on the ground than in the innovation hub cities Melbourne compares itself to.”
Commissioned by the Committee for Melbourne and commercial real estate firm JLL, the report found that Melbourne was second behind Israeli city Tel Aviv for the combined value of its “innovation ecosystem”, growing by 1600 per cent since 2017.
Melbourne placed fourth among similar sized cities for the number of high-ranked unis for computer science and engineering, and was ranked eighth for the international diversity and skills of its workers.
The report said Melbourne had 14 unicorns – or very high-value start-ups – a big increase since 2015. But the city was ranked 42nd out of 75 cities for the availability of start-up venture capital, and in the bottom 40 per cent among 87 top cities for the number of tech company headquarters relative to its population size.
Committee for Melbourne CEO Martine Letts said that in many ways Melbourne was Australia’s leading city for innovation and research, particularly in biotech.
“We’ve got really good researchers and thinkers, and what we’ve managed to do in terms of contributing to solutions on Covid vaccines and cancer, and all the other areas that we’re really good at,” she said.
“What we haven’t managed as well as we could, and that requires reform in the way universities do business, is how do we attract more investment,” she said.
“How do we commercialise better what we’ve got – those are policy settings that require deep collaboration within government, and the research sector and universities.”
Ms Letts said the state government’s proposed development of the Cremorne Digital Hub was promising, and urban renewal precincts like Fishermans Bend had a lot of potential to bolster innovation.
“This report demonstrates that when you see government and industry, and the knowledge sector working together with common purpose in planning, delivery and investment, that’s the key to success,” she said.
“We’ve got all those elements in Melbourne, we’ve just got to pull it all together.”
The report said Melbourne was lagging behind most of its peer cities for the proportion of residents with jobs in hi-tech industries.
– Additional reporting by Mitch Ryan
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