The way we design, construct and manage public spaces can offer a range of environmental benefits and has the potential to significantly reduce the impacts of climate change on our City. More trees and vegetation in public space can help to reduce urban heat, offer cooler places for respite and improve biodiversity.

Our City contains 11km of foreshore, beautiful tree-lined streets and parks that provide habitat for many plants and animals, and offer space for nature within an increasingly built up urban environment.

Adapting for a changing climate

Increased heat due to climate change and urbanisation will impact the liveability of the City and the health of our community. Planting more trees, incorporating water and reducing the amount of unnecessary hard surfaces in our parks and streets and will help to keep our city cool. We need to plant species that can cope with hotter and drier conditions.

Protecting and enhancing biodiversity and habitat

Public spaces are integral to protecting biodiversity values, particularly in highly urbanised areas like Port Phillip. It is important that we both protect existing vegetation and extend plantings to increase habitat for insects, birds, bats, possums and other animals. We need to develop a network of connected green spaces that includes our parks, streets and key corridors such as the Foreshore, rail corridors, and Elster Creek.

Access to nature

Public spaces provide essential opportunities for people to connect with nature and offer cooler spaces for respite. There is an increasing need for trees that provide shade, so that public spaces are appealing, useable and sun-safe.

Water management also plays a key role in enhancing the environment – see the Public spaces for a water-sensitive city snapshot for further information.

What Council is already doing

• Developing a Biodiversity Study and Action Plan
• Implementing the Greening Port Phillip - Urban Forest Strategy and the Foreshore and Hinterland Vegetation Management Plan.
• Mapping heat across the city, to tell us where we need to focus our ‘greening’ efforts.
• Incorporating ‘green infrastructure’ (i.e. landscaping, rain gardens, passive irrigation, pervious pavements) in the way we re-design streets and other public spaces, to achieve urban cooling, manage stormwater and improve amenity.

Opportunities

Ways we can enhance biodiversity and climate resilience include:

• Protecting and enhancing biodiversity creates habitat corridors and helps connect the City’s network of green spaces.
• Reducing hard surfaces will help to keep our city cool and enable them to act as a sponge to reduce flooding.
  
• Improving environmental outcomes through the way we manage public spaces i.e. providing better habitat for wildlife through allowing grass to grow longer.
  
• Providing more canopy trees for shade makes our public spaces more useable and attractive.
  

Thought prompters

• Which opportunities to enhance biodiversity and adapt the City to a changing climate do you think should be prioritised in our public spaces?
• Are there particular opportunities that exist in your neighbourhood?
• Do you have other ideas?

Return to Have Your Say on the Public Space Strategy main page.