Streets Alive Yarra Inc. recommends that the priority for the Economic Development Strategy should be to adopt policies that:
- Enable more customers to live in Yarra; for example by upzoning most of Yarra to ‘legalise Paris’, i.e. to allow 6-storey mixed-use buildings, which would enable Yarra’s population to double or triple by 2050. That increase in population would act to significantly increase revenue for local businesses.
- Enable more customers to safely access businesses in Yarra; by acknowledging that driving and parking requires a lot of space per person, while walking and biking requires much less; and therefore committing to widening footpaths, adding wombat crossings, expanding 30 km/h zones, building a network of protected bike lanes, adding bike parking corrals, and adopting demand-responsive parking charges. Together, this would act to enable many more people to access shops, significantly increasing revenue for local businesses.
Compared with other types of actions, such as ‘promoting’, ‘attracting’, ‘monitoring’, or ‘supporting’ [Reference: Economic Development Strategy 2020-2025], the actions described above would deliver real, observable outcomes. With more customers, and more access, economic activity will naturally follow.
Posted 15 July 2025