Charter 29

is a group of environment professionals who believe that planning in Victoria is failing in many of it’s fundamentals. The report is their call to action on the topic of growth area planning.

The name Charter 29 is inspired by Melbourne’s 1929 Plan of Development, and the fact that the centenary of this plan is approaching. If implementation of the 1929 plan - and other metropolitan strategies that have followed it - had been carried out with greater determination and resolution, Melbourne today would be more compact, better functioning and a more liveable city for all its citizens.

Regrettably, much that has happened to the city since 1929 has allowed Melbourne to develop into a very large, low density metropolis, with a sharp divide between the accessible, high quality environments of the inner suburbs, and the sprawling outer suburbs, where residents need two or more cars, and must travel long distances to work.

These reports attempt to show how the failings of the recent past can be turned around in Melbourne’s growth areas, given political will and enlightened entrepreneurialism.