The City of Melbourne municipality includes suburbs, which are referred to as neighbourhoods, that people from many cultures call home and where diverse private businesses and government organisations are located.

The unique neighbourhoods - Carlton, Parkville, East Melbourne, West Melbourne, North Melbourne, Kensington Docklands, South Yarra, Southbank and the CBD Hoddle Grid – all have their own needs, services and priorities.

Our 37.7 km2 municipality also includes most of Melbourne's famous sporting venues and major parks and gardens. View a map of the City of Melbourne municipality.

Since 2022, we've working to better understand community needs in a highly localised way. We developed a Neighbourhood Planning Framework (PDF 1.24 MB) that focuses on listening to your voices and working together to help address local priorities.

This neighbourhood approach includes a dedicated neighbourhood officer, website for each area detailing local activities and opportunities, grants to support local community activities and more.

Neighbourhood priorities were developed in 2022 after two rounds of consultation with over 7000 people including residents, workers, business owners, students and visitors to the neighbourhoods.

Overwhelmingly, across all neighbourhoods, the priorities identified were aligned with the Safety and Wellbeing and Access and Affordability objectives within the Council Plan.

To read more about the priorities for each neighbourhood, visit the specific Neighbourhood Portals and scroll to 'Neighbourhood Priorities'.

Through our neighbourhood model, we aim to connect the dots between council, residents and businesses, to empower local people, build community capacity and guide city projects.

This work is led by passionate Neighbourhood Partners. Read more to hear from each of the partners, who are always on hand to receive your questions and suggestions for your suburb.

The Neighbourhood Portals are interactive online web pages for each of the ten neighbourhoods in the City of Melbourne., They provide up-to-date location specific information and serve as a key communication channel between community and the City of Melbourne.

The Neighbourhood Portals include information on the strengths and priorities identified by each neighbourhood, details of projects planned or underway, demographic data, links to community resources and will showcase community stories. The Portals include Traditional Owner acknowledgments and also provide a place for community to interact with the Council and their Neighbourhood Partner.

There is an interactive map inviting people to share what’s happening in their neighbourhood and a comments section, encouraging ideas and insights to be continually gathered. A key feature is the list of identified neighbourhood priorities aligned to the Council Plan and regular updates on progress.

We provide small grants for community organisations and individuals to support community connection, social inclusion, access and participation.

Connected Neighbourhoods Small Grants allow the City of Melbourne to progress community development outcomes in the neighbourhoods that make up our municipality. Grants of up to $2000 are available to support the program objectives:

• increase community participation, connection, equity, diversity and inclusion
• empower community members to identify and respond to local issues and priorities.

The Council Plan is our key strategic document. It is our four-year commitment to the community. It outlines what we will achieve and how we will monitor and measure our success. The next four year Council Plan will cover the period 2025-2029.

The Annual Plan 2024–25 describes the key activities we will undertake in the coming year. It is a companion document to the Budget 2024–25. It aligns with the commitments made in the Council Plan 2021–25.

The Budget 2024–25 details how we will resource and deliver our services and activities over the coming year. It includes performance measures and a four-year financial forecast.