A livable and vital city is one which, among other things:

• Offers accessibility to the widest diversity of activities and opportunities.
  
• Offers an environment for innovation and intellectual rigour.
  
• Has a sense of identity and finds ways to celebrate this.
  
• Provides appropriate public and community facilities and services.
  
• Has good quality residential amenities offering a variety of dwellings to suit a variety of lifestyles and pockets
  
• Feels safe

We are trying to capture the big picture in City Plan 97, a major strategy plan currently being prepared by the City of Melbourne. It will bring together all of the City of Melbourne polices for the next five years and will provide an umbrella strategy for all council's operations. It will augment the capital city policy and will provide the parameters for the application of the new Melbourne planning scheme thereby inputting to the State Government planning programme.

Public consultation has played a major role in the development of City Plan '97. Seven public workshops have been held so far with an attendance of over 550 persons and the council has received over 60 written submissions. City plan '97 is now at the stage of drafting directions and strategies, many of which will directly relate to the improvement and enhancement of the city's livability.

That's the big picture. The coloured shadings, the quiet corners, the hidden secrets and individual eccentricities of the city are what interest me more this morning. In particular, I want to talk about cultural diversity, the celebration of identity, and the role of the individual in making Melbourne livable.

CONTRIBUTION OF THE ARTS AND CULTURAL LIFE TO THE LIVABILITY OF A CITY

The cultural and creative life of the city contributes enormously to the livability of a city such as Melbourne where cultural diversity is such a significant contributor to the character of the city.

DIVERSITY

The multi cultural nature of Melbourne is now so totally entrenched in the fabric of our city that it is taken for granted on many levels. Most obvious is the contribution to what Melbournians eat and how we think about dining out.

The question is so often put; "what will we eat tonight, Thai Chinese Italian, Greek or"..?
Alternatively , we may eat in a cafe or restaurant which draws on a number of cultural influences thereby creating its own style. This is now the Australian style, thank goodness, whereas when we were young the Australian style was roast sheep and boiled vegetables.

Our markets and supermarket shelves are filled with an incredibly diverse range of products and foodstuffs to prepare at home. The contribution of the many different ethnic cultures that have a home in Melbourne, however, goes well beyond product lines in the supermarket or the diversity of menu items.

This city celebrates its diversity:
with the Greeks on Greek National day, with the Glendi and the Antipodes festival,
with the Italians in the Lygon Street fiesta,
with the Chinese through Chinese new years festival and the Autumn moon festival,
with the Vietnamese at Tet; and
not to mention celebrating with the Christians at Christmas.

CELEBRATING IDENTITY

The City of Melbourne supports up to 15 arts and cultural festivals which are programed on our annual calendar of events. Such a diverse range of cultural festivals and events celebrate the identity of many different communities which make up the ethnic fruit cake of Melbourne. They also express the best of a wide range of arts activity.

On any day of the year Melbourne offers a fantastic diversity of performance in theatre, dance, music, puppetry, opera, multimedia and more, in venues as large as the tennis centre or as small as La mama, in commercial and subsidised theatres, town halls and recycled industrial buildings like the Malthouse. Such festivals and performance events bring many benefits to Melbourne in lifestyle, enjoyment, recognition of the contribution of minorities and in economic strength. I stress that culture is central to the development of our financial well being and not just a social flourish or frill.

The City of Melbourne is developing a model for assessing the impact of major cultural events it supports. The model looks at the audience numbers, where they came from and the financial benefits they bring to the city. In the last couple of years research has been undertaken on events such as Moomba, the Melbourne International Festival, the Melbourne International film festival and the Melbourne International Comedy festival. In 1996 these 4 major events generated in the region of $60 million for permanent businesses in the city.

But it's not only these larger festivals which bring benefit to Melbourne. The City of Melbourne also supports a great number of smaller festivals and events which cater more for a local community, with a broad demographic base, where locals can build a greater sense of community and celebrate local diversity.

Events such as the spring film festival in North Melbourne play an integral role in bringing local and often disparative communities together. These events are important community building exercises, celebrating and promoting the skills and traditions of local people from different backgrounds; contemporary Andean music from Peru, traditional Lithuanian dance and hmuong embroidery may all feature on the same programme.

As Melbourne increasingly takes on the role of a city of festivals, we are beginning to appreciate the economic, cultural, social and personal benefits such a range of celebrations can bring.

CITY SAFETY, LIVABILITY, CULTURAL LIFE.

The increase in the numbers of people in the city centre during festival times, especially in the evening, creates a very different 'feel' to the city. The energy this creates, provides a positive and safe environment for visitors and residents alike.

The redevelopment of the Melbourne town hall as a hub of activity, together with the revitalised Regent theatre and the Athenaeum, helps to provide the city centre with a night life that attracts visitors and residents. The precinct would be even better if we were able to assist in the renovation of the assembly hall and capital theatres nearby.

The city's lighting strategy has provided the city with a point of difference which is both attractive and provides extra illumination in places that suffer without it, whilst highlighting major buildings with historical significance such as the Town Hall.

Far too many laneways were lost to this city in the 1970s and 80s. The loss of further laneways and arcades should be actively opposed by council and the community. Instead we should invest in their revitalisation as they offer a vitality and diversity to the city. Who goes to Paris or Sienna or Beijing to see skyscrapers ?

While increased street activity after dark can increase a sense of safety, certain types of land use generate activity which may not always be the most appropriate for adding to livability. For example, pinball pallors or sexually explicit entertainments can encourage the congregation of groups in the street whose behaviour may threaten other members of the community. The impact of such activity is magnified when there are a number of such establishments in the one area.

Ideally, single purpose entertainment businesses should not be encouraged to cluster together in such numbers that they create mono-cultures within streets or precincts. This acts against the principles of diversity and, in turn against livability.

Current zoning and land use controls give little ability to manage this issue under the planning scheme but council has exhibited an amendment to prohibit further amusement pallors in Swanston Street. Council is committed to improving safety in the city streets and this amendment is one way of advancing that view. This requires ministerial grace. To me it seems absurd that the council cannot control such issues in it's own municipality but that's the reality in this state at this time.

The installation of a suite of street lights designed by artist Daryl Cowie in Centre Place has assisted in the revitalisation of that small lane way from a tired, dim and unsafe area which was avoided after dark, to part of the city network of laneways with a character and identity of it¼s own. It has now become a part of the vibrant revitalisation of an area of the city which suffered badly from the economic downturn of the early 1990's.

It is the detail at a human scale that provides interest and individuality to the city. Think of discovering a small fountain between skyscrapers, a cafe in a laneway with a Spanish band, a poet on the tram, or public arts work such as the Public Purse by Simon Perry in Burke Street Mall, Akio Makigawa's Time and Tide in Swanston street, and the recently opened set of figureheads by Bruce Armstrong at the turning Basin.

Public art makes a contribution to the city's collective consciousness and the understanding of the role of the artist in the construction and interaction of the city. The city council is able to contribute to this fabric with innovative approaches to the installation of facilities and services. A necessary Telstra vending pipe in Russell St has become an artwork, a sculpture in the park becomes seating.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF INDIVIDUALS TO THE LIVABILITY OF THE CITY.

Melburnians such as director Barrie Kosky, comedians Hung Le, Sue Ingleton and Rod Quantock, artist like Mirka Mora or Bill Kelly, Poets Chris Wallace-Crab and Barry Dickens, the poet of our lanes, and arts managers like Liz Jones and Jill Smith contribute unquantifiable amounts to the livability of the city.

Artists generally, performers, writers, painters, crafts people, give life and quality to the city. They are as important to our common wealth as major corporate headquarters. Artist comment on and interpret the contemporary life of the city, and present this to us in ways that may be challenging, unexpected, beautiful, and harsh. They are windows to the city¼s soul. They may be on the edge of mainstream contemporary culture but their position presents the rest of us with an 'in your face' challenge that may upset complacency but which adds to the critical ferment of ideas and expression that are at the centre of this city's cultural richness.

Artists are all about innovation and change. They are the R & D branch of our city's heart.

It's not just artists however who make the city livable. It is each of us in our chosen fields, accepting personal responsibility for making our own contribution to the overall social good, to livability.

Governments may set agendas and though their actions and behaviour set a tone for society, but each of us must still make constant and conscious choices to make this a better, more livable place. We do this by such modest actions as:
-involvement in and support of local community activities, be they in the area of health, education, culture, welfare or whatever,
-protecting the environment in big issues or small, for example not littering. Imagine if every citizen picked up one piece of rubbish from the streets each day,
-driving courteously and safely,
-supporting healthy fun activities for children,
-welcoming and assisting tourists and visitors with information or a simple smile,
-respecting each other and the magnificent wealth of human difference and cultural diversity,
-displaying civility, generosity and compassion in all our dealings.
These are the little things that each of us individually can do to help glue society together. They can't be done by governments or corporations or unions or other large establishments. They are our individual responsibility if we want to preserve and enhance the livability of Melbourne.

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