MELBOURNE, Australia

Starting point: Suburban sprawl, energy and water issues, but a rich and diverse cultural heritage

Organizing strategy: The Transition Decade, a timeline for a transition to sustainability

Tools: Public and private coordination

Outcomes: Concentrated investment and development in renewable energy systems, elimination of harmful waste, efficient use of resources, ecological conservation and restoration

Prime source: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/

From Melbourne’s promotional material: The Transition Decade is a non-partisan shared campaign which is coordinated by an alliance of Australian community, social, and environmental groups, non-profits and NGO’s. The initiative forms a unified plan to campaign, lobby and work to restore safe climate conditions and a sustainable future^.

The initiative emerged from the Victorian sustainability movement and expanded to encompass the rest of Australia. Organisations and community groups involved include; Friends of the Earth, Beyond Zero Emissions, Climate Emergency Network, Sustainable Living Foundation, Transition Network, Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Yarra Climate Action Now, Darebin Climate Action Now, Climate Action Moreland, Sustainable Living Tasmania, Environment Victoria, Alternative Technology Association and 100% Renewable campaign.

A number of organisations have been advocating for and working in a ten year time frame, the Transition Decade initiative integrates this work to strengthen resources and to connect movements that are influencing policy and local action.

From 2014: Intense Transition Mode

Economic Reorientation – Shifts in the current economic system will be vital in providing the stimulus and capacity for the design, construction and production of necessary systems, services and goods.

Given the huge scale of what needs to be done to restore a safe climate, it will be impossible to get everything done in a decade, or even two decades, if we continue to approach the transition in a business-as-usual way.

It will take a determined effort from all levels of the community to remain committed to effective action until the task is completed.

From Wikipedia: Melbourne is an international cultural centre, with cultural endeavours spanning major events and festivals, drama, musicals, comedy, music, art, architecture, literature, film and television. Melbourne is the birthplace of Australian film and television, Australian rules football, the Heidelberg School of Australian Impressionism, Australian contemporary dance (including the Melbourne Shuffle and New Vogue styles), and is home to the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia’s oldest and largest public art museum. In 2008, Melbourne became the second city after Edinburgh to be declared a UNESCO City of Literature. It has thrice shared top position in a survey by The Economist of the world’s most liveable cities on the basis of a number of attributes which include its broad cultural offerings.

From “Lonely Planet”: Sophisticated and slick, edgy and rough, Melbourne’s physical and cultural landscape is shaped by a dynamic population, ever-ravenous for a bite of global culture. The result is Australia’s most accessible multiculturalism. Ornate Victorian-era architecture and leafy, established boulevards reflect the city’s history, and cutting-edge developments such as Federation Sq exemplify its enigmatic contemporary style. But, Melburnians still keep their urban frenzy to a deliciously sedate pace. Trams lumber back and forth on routes radiating out like spokes from central Melbourne, and cycling is a common way to get from A to Z. Character-filled neighbourhoods, such as Fitzroy, St Kilda and Carlton, hum with life and the city produces some of the best art, music, cuisine, fashion, performance, design and ideas in the world.