Community connection
- Read the virtual postcards.
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What we know
Parkville is large neighbourhood in the north west of the municipality known for its leafy streets, heritage houses, vast parklands, and significant public institutions, including the University of Melbourne’s main bustling campus and residential colleges. Royal Park, the municipality’s largest open space, is in Parkville, comprising a mix of recreational facilities, including one of Melbourne’s major tourist attractions, Melbourne Zoo.
Parkville forms part of the ‘City North’ innovation precinct, home to the Royal Melbourne, Women’s and Children’s hospitals, as well as global biomedical research and institutional facilities.
Parkville was the site of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games Village, now transformed into an integrated, socially inclusive community with a mix of private and social housing and aged care facilities, called ‘Parkville Gardens’.
In the north of Parkville are Orygen Youth Health, the Melbourne Youth Justice Centre and a light industrial and manufacturing area that forms part of the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct.
Quick facts
Data is sourced from 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census of Population and Housing, ABS Estimated Resident Population 2021, and 2020 Census of Land and Employment (CLUE).
To access more data on Parkville, visit: Parkville community profile on profile .id.
To learn more about the ABS Census of Population and Housing, including definitions, visit: Guide to Census data.
City of Melbourne services in Parkville
Penguin Childcare Parkville
We manage and maintain many public spaces across Parkville including:
- Auckland Lane Reserve
- Barring Walk, Carrangall Place Park
- Clunies Ross Reserve
- Galada Avenue Reserve
- Garrard Street Park
- Ievers Reserve
- Lennon Street Reserve
- Manchester Lane Common Reserve
- Park Street Reserve
- Parkville Gardens
- Royal Park
- The Avenue Reserve and Trin Warren Tam-Boore.
At Royal Park, we provide sports fields which cater to 26 community sports organisations as well as school use including:
- Ryder Oval
- Brens Oval
- Ross Straw Field
- Ransford Oval
- McAlister Oval
- Western Oval
- Flemington Road Oval
- HG Smith Oval
- Poplar Oval.
A 9-hole golf course is located within Royal Park and is home to four local clubs as well as public use.
Two tennis facilities are located in Royal Park, one leased to North Park Tennis Club, the other to Royal Park Tennis Club.
What we heard
City of the Future consultation
We invited community members to reflect and share with us how COVID-19 changed your perspective and priorities for the future of the city. Research and knowledge gathering activities with the community took place from 15 June through to 19 July 2020.
- There is an opportunity to make lasting and impactful change, but we should act now. The city needs to adjust to major impacts and economic recovery is crucial to our city’s success.
- The creative sector’s contribution is vital to the city’s economy along with its role in creating vibrancy, social cohesion and unique experiences. It must be a focus in recovery. Opportunities were also identified to accelerate growth through innovation and emerging businesses.
- Building resilience in our community is essential given ongoing uncertainty. Accelerating action on climate change and collective global action are fundamental to economic recovery. There is a strong desire to integrate our city’s ancient and continuous Aboriginal culture and knowledge in responding to contemporary challenges.
- There is great concern about the mental health, equity and wellbeing of our community, particularly vulnerable communities. Community and experts want to see inequality, affordability and inclusion addressed. The desire for more green spaces in our city was consistently linked with health and wellbeing outcomes.
- The digital divide is an issue and we need to consider integrated digital infrastructure that would enable participation in an adaptable, digitally-inclusive and connected city.
See the ideas forum.
Seven initiatives represent our city’s plan for reactivation and recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, they connect our immediate response to the crisis with our city’s longer-term regeneration. By linking the actions that we take in the short-term with the outcomes we want to see in the future, we can ensure that we target our resources to those initiatives that best meet our long term strategic objectives and ultimately deliver maximum benefit for our city and its citizens.
Initiatives integral to immediate recovery
- Prioritise public health and wellbeing
- Reactivate the city
Initiatives integral to our city’s successful regeneration and ongoing resilience
- Build economic resilience
- Expand equitable opportunity and access
- Transform our spaces and buildings
- Strengthen community participation and align to others
- Evaluate and progress
Read the full consultation recap.
The COVID-19 Reactivation and Recovery Plan integrates with the Council planning framework and City of Melbourne’s strategic plans and is designed to help guide and shape our work now and into the future.
Read the COVID-19 Reactivation and Recovery Plan.
Community Vision consultation
To help form our 10-year Community Vision and four-year Council Plan 2021–25, we completed a period of deliberative engagement with a broad cross-section of the community throughout March 2021.
We spoke with more than 750 people who live, work, study, visit or own a business in the municipality to understand what our community values most about the city.
Overall, the community’s top aspirations were for Melbourne to be a city that:
- is healthy and safe
- considers climate change in everything that we do
- is inclusive, accessible and affordable.
Read the full consultation recap.
The community’s feedback was gathered and synthesised into a series of insights and aspirations that helped to create the 10-year Community Vision and four-year Council Plan.
Read the Consultation Report (PDF 1.06MB).
Six strategic directions from the Council Plan include:
- Economy of the future
- Melbourne's unique identity and place
- Safety and wellbeing
- Access and affordability
- Climate and biodiversity emergency
- Aboriginal Melbourne
What we're doing
Capital Works
New infrastructure investments in Parkville this year include:
- $1,815,000 – Community Sports Pavillion upgrade (Brens)
- $150,000 – Melbourne Innovation District (MID) Urban Realm
- $100,000 – Cycle Infrastructure.
We will invest $2,623,720 on renewal works in Parkville including for footpaths, drains, parks, landscape and property. We will invest $204,692 on maintenance works in Parkville including at our community facilities and property, on pedestrian infrastructure and for urban forest health.
Key Initiatives
This year we will:
- Facilitate Integrated Water Management Solutions to support increased greening, reduced flooding and reduced pollution to the bay.
- Progress Melbourne Innovation District (MID) City North Urban Realm.
- Progress the Parkville heritage review to protect and celebrate heritage places and neighbourhood character.
- Complete background reports - including the Conservation Management Plan - ready for the drafting of an updated Master Plan and community engagement.
Our strategic work in Parkville
We will progress delivery of:
- Royal Park Master Plan
- Parkville Urban Forest Precinct Plan
- MID City North Opportunities Plan.
Community map
Explore the map
Check out what others have shared below about Parkville's assets and strengths.
We asked:
- Where are the places and services that help to improve community life in our neighbourhood?
- Who are the people, networks and organisations who make this neighbourhood special?
- Are there places you go to locally to cope during extreme weather like heatwaves, air pollution or storms?
- Are there events, walks, open spaces or special spots that you love to visit and enjoy?
- You can also highlight where you see there’s an opportunity for the community and/or Council to help address.
