Place-Making in Megaprojects in Melbourne

Abstract

This article analyses state-led place-making practices in Melbourne. The two levels of government that influence planning in Melbourne make much of the city as ‘culturally vibrant’ and ‘creative’, and have incorporated creative city-inspired place-making principles into many layers of the planning system. An examination of the development of two mixed-use megaprojects in central Melbourne reveals however that ideals of culturally engaging public places, and indeed of creative landscapes for middle-class consumption, wither in the face of more basic imperatives for economic development. In these case studies the ‘creative city’, no matter how the idea is interpreted, has little traction either as a set of inclusive place-making principles or as a gentrification strategy. The article concludes that the creative city-inspired place-making objectives in the planning system at both state and local levels are ambiguous in their overall intents and completely unsupported by statutory controls. Such place-making objectives as are realised are the compromised results of the interplay of uncoordinated decisions, delivered at the pleasure of the developer.