The future of our city in a post-COVID world?

While our inner city has been hit hard by the pandemic, I have no doubt Melbourne will continue to be a very special place for a long time to come. The question is what kind of city do we want it to be?

As we all know, much has changed as a result of COVID-19. Some things will never be the same again. But that’s a reality we should embrace, not fear. Hybrid working in one form or another is here to stay, and employers and building owners alike are already thinking about what that means for their business models. Multiple lockdowns have accelerated the move to online shopping and its impact on the retail sector. The international students and tourists who contributed so much to the vibrancy and diversity of our city will return once international borders reopen, but in what numbers we don’t yet know.

What this all means in the long-term, for the inner city in particular, is anyone’s guess. But you don’t need a crystal ball if you write your own future.

As devastating as this crisis has been (and we clearly aren’t out of the woods yet) it provides us with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink the role of the inner city.

In a podcast with Paul Zahra this week, I heard the Lord Mayor Sally Capp say that “instead of returning to normal, we need to gallop to the extraordinary”, and I think it’s the frame we need right now. Rather than dwelling on what was, we need to galvanise all parts of our community to imagine what could be, for our city and for ourselves.

Melbourne has all the ingredients of a thriving, welcoming, globally connected city. It’s a place people choose to make their home, whether for a month, a year or a lifetime. It’s a place where people come to collaborate, learn and reach their full potential. It’s a place people visit to be entertained, whether they’re into sport, the arts or just meeting up with friends in our world-class bars, restaurants and laneways. It’s a place built on 60,000 years of continuous culture, with a first peoples who can teach us much about the very meaning of that word ‘place’ and also how we can live with, rather than tame and destroy, our natural environment. It’s a melting pot of cultures, perspectives and new ideas, and thanks to our rich multiculturalism, it’s is a gateway to every corner of the world.

Within these multiple threads that make up Melbourne, there are a multitude of futures. The challenge of a shock like COVID-19 is that it hits us all so hard. We get consumed by dealing with the now, leaving little energy to think about the future that we want.

But it’s more important now than ever that we do that thinking, not just because it’s a sensible thing to do, but also because it can be a cure for the malaise we find ourselves in during this period of rolling lockdowns. In imagining the future role of the inner city, here are some questions I’ve been asking myself of late:?

• What do we want from our city? Not just as a driver of economic prosperity, but as a positive contributor to our well-being, our identity and our purpose as human beings?
• What are our competitive advantages? What do we have that nobody else has and how do we make those elements even stronger?
• What industries do we think are going to thrive in the future and how do we encourage them to take root and thrive in our city?
• What skills will those industries need and how do we work with our world-leading education institutions to meet those needs and provide opportunities for Victorians?
• How do we embed a healthy mix of commercial and residential tenants in the CBD? What would attract more people to live in the inner city and a greater diversity of businesses to open here?
• How do we build a truly sustainable city, and do it so well that we build a reputation that allows us to export a wealth of expertise to other urban centres in our region?
• What does innovation look like in a post-COVID world and what does it mean to activate a truly ‘smart city’?
• How do we build in resilience against climate change and future pandemics and other economic shocks so it doesn’t hit us as hard next time around?

I don’t have any definitive answers to these questions, but I know I’m not the only one asking them. Coming into my new role, I’ve been fortunate to meet some very smart people who are thinking about what all the structural changes that have been accelerated by COVID-19 might mean for our city. I’m also very fortunate to be able to dwell on questions like these. I’m conscious of my privilege that allows me to be contemplating these ideas, rather than where my next paycheque will come from. I wouldn’t want in any way to diminish the challenges that lie ahead for us all in the months to come, at least until our vaccination rates reach a critical mass.

I love this city and I’m excited about all that it can be. It will bounce back. But it’s how it bounces back that I’m most interested in.

Right now we might be physically constrained in how far we can travel from home or who we can see. But there is no constraint on imagination or possibility. The future of Melbourne isn’t so much in our hands as in our minds. So let’s make it extraordinary.?