Building a more sustainable, equal and compassionate Melbourne, together

Adam Bandt launches Ideas for Melbourne.

Inspired by amazing community-based projects springing up in cities and towns all around the world, like New York City’s Highline, Renew Newcastle, and Hepburn Wind, three weeks ago, Federal MP for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, launched Ideas for Melbourne. A collaborative community-based initiative, Ideas for Melbourne is a platform for ideas and projects aimed at making Melbourne a more sustainable, equal and compassionate city.

It was a great kickoff for this exciting new venture, with over 80 people coming together at Hub Melbourne, and designing nine very creative and innovative concepts out of a one-hour brainstorming session.

The nine projects included a “life-exchange” story-telling project: Walk a mile in our shoes; a sustainable infrastructure project turning empty buildings into affordable housing;  Tradies for Good: a weekend blitz to retrofit low income households to save money and energy; plans to Make Melbourne a Walkable city; and the Solar Quest Game: which uses art to track our progress in the transition to the clean energy economy!

What’s next

Over the next few weeks, in conjunction with the good folk at Hub Melbourne, Tomorrow at Work, Collabforge, Huddle design, School for Social Entrepreneurs and Adam Bandt’s office, Will Donovan and myself will be putting the final touches on a comprehensive program for Ideas for Melbourne, that will run from September 2011 – June 2012.

This pilot program will include a series of practical workshops and skillshares with leaders in their respective fields from the corporate, government, community and various industry sectors, to help members of the Melbourne community develop their ideas for a more sustainable, equal and compassionate Melbourne and help make those ideas happen.

Ideas for Melbourne will also serve as a platform to showcase existing projects, campaigns, events or organisations that are contributing to building a better Melbourne, with the opportunity for selected projects to be presented at a TEDx event early next year.

Join us

If you’re interested in contributing project ideas for a more sustainable, equal and compassionate Melbourne or helping make them happen, please email i4melb@hubmelbourne.com with your contact details and what you’d like to offer.

You can also subscribe to updates for Ideas for Melbourne here.

Thanks for being part of the inaugural Ideas for Melbourne program ~ building a more sustainable, equal and compassionate Melbourne, together.

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David Hood

Social Systems Architect and Catalyst for Change
David has been working with not-for-profits and community organisations for close to 15 years. His mission is to help people and organisations doing something good to realise the potential of the strategic use of the social web, emerging models for business and collaborative networked communities to build better futures for all, together. A graduate of the School for Social Entrepreneurs program in 2011, David was named Melbourne Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012 and one of The Age's Melbourne Magazine Top 100 most "passionate, powerful and provocative personalities of 2012".
  • Liz Landray

    Hi David
    I reckon that The Sharehood http://www.thesharehood.org is definitely an grassroots initiative that would be good to include in your Ideas for Melbourne project. I would be up for a chat to discuss more details

    Cheers Liz Landray  0418 883 837 and I like your Doing Something Good Facebook page, you can contact me there.

    • http://flavors.me/davidahood David Hood

      Excellent Liz, thank you. Will definitely be in contact – Theo is a fellow student at the School for Social Entrepreneurs, maybe we should catch up for lunch or a coffee sometime soon. Cheers, David. :)