We are working on a four-year Major Initiative on Community Disaster Resilience ‘Prepare Melbourne’ to engage and prepare residents and communities to enhance their resilience to hazards, disasters and the health impacts of climate change.
We hosted a series of Community Resilience Assessment (CRA) workshops to understand:
Our first three CRAs in Southbank, Kensington and Carlton, focused on exploring and learning. Our later CRAs, in North and West Melbourne and Docklands, focused on testing and validating what we found in the earlier workshops.
Community members who were unable to attend the workshops shared their insights and ideas through an online survey and interactive online mapping activity.
Out next steps include prioritising actions and collaborating with the community to realise the ideas and opportunities shared through the CRA process.
Confidence that people in the community would pull together during a disaster or emergency varies across neighbourhoods.
Through the first series of workshops in Southbank, Kensington and Carlton, we heard that knowing what to do, where to go, who to connect with and how to stay safe were fundamental to feeling prepared for a disaster.
During the first series of workshops, we asked participants to identify the social and vulnerabilities that may impact on the neighbourhood's ability to deal with a disaster. Through these conversations, four key themes emerged for building resilience in the community. We structured the second series of workshops around these themes.
In each workshop, community members identified actions that could be taken and prioritised by communities to improve disaster resilience and preparedness in their neighbourhood.
Despite the unique nature of each of our neighbourhoods, we heard common issues across surveys and workshops in each neighbourhood.
These common threads provide opportunities to focus our efforts and maximise the benefits for our communities. For instance, each neighbourhood supported opportunities to foster stronger community connection, and sharing information about how to be better prepared for disasters.
Among the ideas prioritised by community members, five ideas emerged as key to all six neighbourhoods and we’re working on bringing these ideas to life, with your input and help.
Progress so far:
We're currently working through opportunities to help realise ideas that emerged through the Community Resilience Assessments workshops.
Some of these ideas may be council delivered, others may be community led or delivered in partnership supporting State agencies or with community and other organisations.
If you are interested in helping to shape neighbourhood ideas into actions, please be in touch with your City of Melbourne Neighbourhood Partners:
You can check out the City of Melbourne grants opportunities via Grants and sponsorships - City of Melbourne and reach out to your Neighbourhood Partner for next steps.
To stay updated on what is happening in your neighbourhoods, please visit your neighbourhood portals: Neighbourhoods | Participate Melbourne.
Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners
The City of Melbourne respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land we govern, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin and pays respect to their Elders past and present. We acknowledge and honour the unbroken spiritual, cultural and political connection they have maintained to this unique place for more than 2000 generations.
We accept the invitation in the Uluru Statement from the Heart and are committed to walking together to build a better future.
