Brunswick Design District announced
Brunswick is set to become a hub for creatives, with the State Government announcing that the suburb will become the Brunswick Design District.
RMIT University (including its Brunswick design campus), Merri-bek Council and government body Creative Victoria are working on the pilot together to encourage startups and other enterprise businesses to set up in the area.
The Design District centres around RMIT’s Brunswick-based Design Campus, home to a world-class School of Fashion and Textiles, as well as Merri-bek’s growing start-up and maker community. The location is supported by excellent public transport, almost 40 hectares of industrial zoned land and the variety of attractions of Sydney Road.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the stakeholders which also encourages existing creative entrepreneurs in the suburb to stay and grow.
The partnership will work collaboratively to develop a long-term vision for the Design District through engagement with a wide network of stakeholders, experts and local community members. Shared decision making will assist to deepen Brunswick’s existing strengths in the design fields and coordinate actions and investments to provide new life to assets in the Design District.
Read about the announcement in the Domain news article.
Read the Brunswick Design District Memorandum of Understanding (PDF 159Kb).
Plan Melbourne
Plan Melbourne 2017-2050 is the metropolitan planning strategy to manage Melbourne's growth and change over the next three decades. Developed by the State Government's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), the strategy will guide the growth of our city for the next 35 years. It sets out a plan for supporting jobs, housing and transport, while building on Melbourne's legacy of distinctiveness, liveability and sustainability.
With an economy that is headed towards creative problem solving, it is essential to take advantage of the good ideas we have, whilst also positioning Victoria as a world leader that attracts and retains creative talent. This will be critical if Melbourne is to create the 1.5 million new jobs forecast to 2050 under Plan Melbourne.
Read Plan Melbourne 2017-2050 (PDF 33Mb).
Enterprise Precincts
'Enterprise Precincts' present the opportunity to work together to coordinate efforts and embrace exciting opportunities presented by a changing global and local economy. While Plan Melbourne provides the overarching strategic policy for Melbourne, to further the development of Enterprise Precincts an additional zoning tool has been added to the toolkit available to planners: the Commercial 3 Zone.
This zone gives preference to enterprises and reduces the planning burden for a diversity of employment uses while promoting the supporting amenities that make precincts great places to work. The State Government's DEWLP has produced Unlocking Enterprise in a Changing Economy, a policy paper that applies a holistic and coordinated precincts based approach. The policy paper offers a framework with which to understand and support ‘Enterprise Precincts’ as hubs for the emerging economy.
Read Unlocking Enterprise in a Changing Economy (PDF, 1.5 MB) (PDF 2Mb).
Moreland City Council, Locked Bag 10, Merri-bek Vic. 3058, 90 Bell Street, Coburg Vic. 3058 Australia