To better understand the physical and social vulnerabilities our communities face in the event of a disaster, and how we can build a more resilient community, in 2022 and 2023 we met and worked with our neighbourhoods.

The City of Melbourne is working on a four-year project called Prepare Melbourne, to ‘engage and prepare residents and communities to enhance their resilience to hazards, disasters and the health impacts of climate change’.

We have completed Community Resilience Assessments in Southbank, Kensington, Carlton, West and North Melbourne and Docklands. Find out what we heard and the next steps.

Community consultation and next steps

We spoke with the community during a series of Community Resilience Assessments. Find out what we're doing to build resilient neighborhoods.

News

Neighbourhood assessments

In recent times our neighbourhoods have experienced flooding, extreme heat days, as well as the impacts of the pandemic.

Our Municipal Emergency Management Plan further outlines some of the disasters that could impact the City of Melbourne. In addition, climate change projections indicate the following possible events:

  • increase in hot days >35C to 12 per year by 2030
  • increase in sea level rise by 0.11 metres by 2030
  • decrease in total annual rainfall to 545 mm by 2030
  • increase in very windy days >30km/hr to 4.5 days by 2030
  • increase in very high fire danger days to 20 days per year by 2030.

Data is sourced from Energy Sector Climate Information.

Knowing our neighbours, looking out for each other and being better prepared for the unexpected, can make our days more enjoyable and can save lives in a disaster.

Timeline

  • Timeline item 1 - complete

    Phase 1: Exploring and learning

    November 2022 - May 2023

    Southbank, Kensington, Carlton

    We conducted two Community Resilience Assessment workshops in three neighbourhoods. The first workshop in each neighbourhood focused on assessing community disaster resilience, awareness and the particular challenges of each neighbourhood. In the second workshop, community members identified actions to improve disaster resilience and preparedness in their neighbourhood.

  • Timeline item 2 - complete

    Phase 2: Testing and validating

    September 2023 - November 2023

    North and West Melbourne, Docklands

    Based on what we learned during the first exploration phase, we conducted two further community resilience workshops to better understand physical and social vulnerabilities and strengths to disasters in our neighbourhoods. We also shared and tested the resources we developed following the previous consultation phase to gather feedback on how to improve them.

  • Timeline item 3 - complete

    Next steps; Action and collaboration

    November 2023 - 2024

    North and West Melbourne, Docklands

    These consultations have informed how we are developing our community resilience awareness program and we are seeking your input to help bring your ideas to life. Learn more about our next steps and how you can get involved on the consultation summary page.

Would you like to be involved?

Contact us

Have questions or want to learn more about the project?