Docklands Dreamings: Illusions of Sustainability in the Melbourne Docks Redevelopment

Abstract

The redevelopment of Melbourne's docklands-the largest urban development project in Australia-has been the subject of various official narratives in the course of its 20-year realisation so far. Many of these have invoked aspirations-'visions' or imaginaries-of sustainability, including, variously, economic, environmental, social and cultural sustainability. Through documentary sources used to establish these narratives, this paper tracks the changes in vision against changes in the local political-economic context and examines their effects on the ground. The paper argues that, while each vision was intended to some degree to rescue the development from the failure of the preceding one, onl..