The City of Melbourne is creating a new Master Plan for Birrarung Marr to guide the development and management of this key city capital park over the next 20 years.

A master plan outlines a vision for the future of a the Birrarung Marr parkland and establishes the principles and actions that will guide management of the park over the next 20 years.

Developing the master plan requires a combination of research, planning and key stakeholder and community engagement. This resulting analysis will tell us about community use of the park, landscape character, pedestrian accessibility, horticulture, and other social and environmental values of the park.

In 2002, Birrarung Marr was the first major open space to be built in Melbourne in a century. It was a well-designed urban contemporary landscape and a key capital city park designed to support events and passive park use. It is well-utilised by visitors, city workers and residents.

The park is also an important event space for Melbourne’s cultural calendar. Birrarung Marr attracts more than 2.8m visitors per year (without considering event attenders), which is the equivalent to 28 full-capacity events at the MCG. The park was created as a place for people – a shared space that creates a community and celebrates public activity.

The City of Melbourne is committed to improve the quality of green spaces in our city and acknowledges that there are lot of opportunities to improve the current layout and infrastructure at Birrarung Marr. Similarly, there is a need to explore how this capital city park can be better used and managed to provide both a local park experience for residents and workers and continue to support its role as a major city drawcard.

We want to ensure its ongoing role in providing both passive and active recreation as well as events opportunities within the central city, whilst also ensuring that the importance of its connection to Traditional Owners is further enhanced and celebrated.