Melbourne, One of the World's Most Livable Cities

Ever since I was a little kid, I have been fascinated with Australia. I have always wanted to visit, and live there. In all honesty, I think Steve Irwin was my first introduction to the country, as The Crocodile Hunter was my favorite show as a very young kid. It was something that never left me and I never grew out of, and as I got older, I realized Melbourne was the place I wanted to be. As explained in this article, the city of Melbourne has been repeatedly voted as one of the world's most liveable cities in the 1990's and 2000's. The article goes in depth as to what exactly that means, and how Melbourne achieved it.

In the 1980's, the country was starting to rebound from rough times, and one of their main focuses was making the city significantly more pedestrian friendly. In 1993, the city brought in Jan Gehl, a Danish architect to study the area, gather people's opinions on the city and ask them about their daily routines in their city. These questions could include their commutes to work, or how long they spend in the city. Gehl's main focus was to urbanize the city in a way that pedestrians would enjoy the city, even if they are simply getting to work. Gehl suggested adding several gathering places throughout the city. The city's government also did their share, as they improved their roads and road maintenance, constructed several footpaths, added arcades, and built several public gathering places. The cities goal was improving the city by improving people's experience's within the city, and it definitely worked. In one of the first ever "most liveable cities" studies, Melbourne came out on top, and the city from that point on has set out to preserve that highly valued accolade. To this day, the city still continuously works to improve the liveability of the city, with one of the more recent movements being the "greening" of the city, by adding grass, trees and plants throughout the city. This project was a big risk in the 1980's with no guarantee that it would work, but looking back at it now, that hit the jackpot. 

Source: Blomkamp, Emma, and Jenny M. Lewis. “‘Marvellous Melbourne’: Making the World’s Most Liveable City.” Successful Public Policy: Lessons from Australia and New Zealand, edited by Joannah Luetjens et al., ANU Press, Acton ACT, Australia, 2019, pp. 113–138. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh4zj6k.12. Accessed 20 Jan. 2020.