The City of Melbourne’s vision is for our city to be bold, inspirational and sustainable – “a place where everyone feels safe and able to be part of our community at any time of the day or night”. In addition to being recognised as the world’s most liveable city, in the year 2000 Melbourne became the first capital city in the southern hemisphere to be designated as an International Safe Community, and continues to be the only capital city in the southern hemisphere to maintain this status.
We believe that a safe city is one where all feel welcome and connected, and a place where all can thrive.
YOUR INVITATION
Join us for the Beyond the Safe City Social Innovation Forum to explore how we might go beyond being a safe city to establish Melbourne as the most vibrant, safe and welcoming city in the world for all who live, work and visit here.
We’ll hear about socially innovative approaches to community building and placemaking, and learn about initiatives that are making safer cities and neighbourhoods across the country and around the world. We’ll cover important issues of community safety, crime and violence prevention, injury prevention, drugs and alcohol harm minimisation. We’ll also discuss what’s already working in and around Melbourne, and ask participants to help us identify and prioritise community safety issues and responses.
Beyond the Safe City will bring together 150 people from around the country including City of Melbourne residents, business owners, academics, policy makers, city workers, urban planners, architects, designers, students, community leaders, visitors and health, safety and security professionals.
The conversations we document and the insights that are captured will inform the development of the next City of Melbourne Strategy for a Safer City for 2014-17, and be compiled into an invaluable resource to be shared with all participants. Online engagement will be a feature, with the new Participate Melbourne website and theme related content and conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using hashtag #BTSC14.
THE PROGRAM
The Beyond the Safe City Social Innovation Forum program is designed to give participants the opportunity to connect, learn, exchange useful information and provide a space for conversations that matter. The format incorporates innovative methodologies including World Café and Open Space with an opening keynote presentation and 10 Lightning Talks over the two days.
Lightning Talks are five minute talks intended to inspire new ideas, catalyse conversation, spark insights and ignite action. Over the two days we’ll have tw0 rounds of Lightning Talks where you’ll get to hear from five thought leaders, practitioners and pioneers, about how we might make Melbourne a city where all feel safe, welcome and connected, and a place where all can thrive.
World Café is a simple and effective methodology for hosting large group dialogue. Throughout the two days you’ll participate in up to four 30-45 minute round table conversations with 4 or 5 fellow participants diving into key issues and opportunities, as well as any themes that emerge over the two days. Learn more about the World Café methodology here.
Open Space Sessions are proposed and led by participants. Over the two days there will be six rounds of Open Space, with six 45 minute sessions being run in each time slot – a total of 36 sessions. Each day we’ll open up a ‘market’ for participants to propose a topic and the type of session they would like to lead – it might be a presentation, conversation, workshop or planning discussion. Read more about Open Space Technologies here.
For more information and to subscribe for updates go to Participate Melbourne. Follow @GoodCitiesProj on Twitter and connect with other participants using hashtag #BTSC14
This community event is an initiative of the City of Melbourne, facilitated by and designed in partnership with Doing Something Good. We believe that good ideas come from connected minds.