{"id":394005,"date":"2026-01-05T22:18:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/394005\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T22:18:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:18:24","slug":"how-this-new-melbourne-suburb-is-dodging-baking-heat-in-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/394005\/","title":{"rendered":"How this new Melbourne suburb is dodging baking heat in summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

From above, Orana estate in Melbourne’s outer south-east looks a lot like many other new housing developments in Australia’s booming growth areas \u2014 black roofs on homes built right up to the neighbours, driveways leading down to baking hot roads.<\/p>\n

But from the ground, the difference is growing.<\/p>\n

Thousands of young trees dot the streets and front gardens, part of a neighbourhood-wide push to create more shade and curb the urban heat island effect<\/a>, where new homes are surrounded by concrete jungles, and the area heats up in the summer.<\/p>\n

For City of Casey Mayor Stefan Koomen, new housing estates like this one are a chance to plant for the future.<\/p>\n

“In the new areas where we have no trees and we’re building whole estates, we really get an opportunity,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s all about changing the way we build new suburbs, so having a tree-first approach.”<\/p>\n

\"Stefan<\/p>\n

City of Casey Mayor Stefan Koomen says residents see the value in investing in greener neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0 (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)<\/p>\n

The City of Casey is one of Victoria’s fastest-growing areas, with a population tipped to reach more than 500,000 by 2041.<\/p>\n

In conjunction with the developer, Balcon, Orana in Clyde North has a target of 30 per cent canopy cover and a minimum two trees planted per residential lot \u2014 more than double the requirement.<\/p>\n

Councillor Koomen said shadier streets would create happier neighbourhoods with less reliance on cars to get around.<\/p>\n

“We want to create connected communities and having pathways and green paths is really important to that \u2014 it makes the decision easy for people when they’re moving around the community,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said residents also saw the value of investing in greener neighbourhoods, when they considered their property values.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Orana estate is pushing to create more shade.\u00a0 (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)<\/p>\n

Smaller gardens, shadier streets<\/p>\n

The Green Streets project, which was recognised with a National Growth Areas Alliance award, comes at a cost.<\/p>\n

Balcon’s development manager Jason Shaw said the environmental credentials added about $1,000 per lot, compared to what developers would typically spend on landscaping, including dedicating more room for street trees, reusing topsoil and minimising hard surfaces like concrete to allow water to get to roots.<\/p>\n

He said there had been a lot of positive feedback from customers, who saw it as a point of difference.<\/p>\n

“What we’re trying to achieve is to treat the streets as a public space, think of it like a park,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Jason Shaw\u00a0and Stefan Koomen at Orana estate. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)<\/p>\n

“So we’re trying to encourage people to take ownership of the streets, whether it be kids riding bikes, street cricket, neighbourhood BBQs, [and to] get back out onto the streets.”<\/p>\n

Mr Shaw said fitting big, shady trees on new residential lots had become tricky, with the cost of living pushing the average lot size down<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Part of the purpose of the project is to demonstrate that even with smaller lot sizes and denser neighbourhoods it is still possible to have big shady street trees,” he said.<\/p>\n

The average lot size at Orana is about 350 square metres, comparable to those in the surrounding neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

Residents appreciate green credentials<\/p>\n

Rupain Saini moved to Clyde South from western Sydney two years ago, with his wife and parents.<\/p>\n

He said when he was looking to buy off the plan, the landscaping was a big factor, along with the price, the access to local shops and the strong South Asian community.<\/p>\n

“The greenery side is very good, and that’s what my family likes because my family likes to roam around,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Rupain<\/p>\n

Rupain Saini and his family value the green space in their Clyde North community. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)<\/p>\n

He said his mother often sat out the front of the house, where there was a thriving community.<\/p>\n

“It’s not [fully grown] now, but they’ve done a very good job with the landscaping in the street,” he said.<\/p>\n

At a minimum, all planning applications need at least a 10 per cent canopy cover on land up to 1,000 square metres, and 20 per cent on larger land.<\/p>\n

The Victorian government also introduced a target of 30 per cent canopy cover in urban areas in February 2025<\/a>, making it harder to remove existing trees and making planting big trees a consideration in new planning permits.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The City of Casey has a target to reach 15 per cent canopy cover by 2030. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy\u00a0)<\/p>\n

But each council has its own canopy target and timeline to reach it, with the City of Banyule in Melbourne’s north-east aiming for 45 per cent canopy coverage by 2040<\/a>, while Merribek in the north focuses on 30 per cent by 2050.<\/p>\n

The City of Casey is targeting 15 per cent by 2030, with a council report identifying some suburbs, such as Clyde North and Cranbourne West, having as low as 1 to 5 per cent canopy cover.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joe Hurley from RMIT’s Centre for Urban Research said trees needed to be considered essential infrastructure, like transport and storm water.<\/p>\n

“Urban green infrastructure is a critical infrastructure alongside our roads, our buildings, our stormwater systems,” Professor Hurley said.<\/p>\n

“And if we look at it as a critical infrastructure, and we measure it, we monitor it and understand the forces that are eroding it or providing it, we’re going to have a much better chance of maintaining and enhancing this really important aspect of our environment.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Thousands of young trees have been planted across the streets and front gardens. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)<\/p>\n

Professor Hurley said while some local governments had introduced tree planting requirements, the state government could do more to regulate building on residential lots, to allow room for canopy trees.<\/p>\n

“I think we certainly need to talk about tree planting requirements and whether that’s something that’s going to be accepted by a community,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But we need to get the structure right to allow those people who want to have trees, who want to have vegetation, to plant and nurture that in their own gardens.<\/p>\n

“If we have buildings and hardscapings taking up all that space at the point of development, there’s no room for that garden.”<\/p>\n

Calls for more regulation<\/p>\n

Back in Clyde North, Stefan Koomen said he’d like to see the state government incorporate more regulations around overall canopy, particularly in new developments, as Melbourne’s outer suburbs continued to expand.<\/p>\n

A greener view<\/a><\/p>\n

In Melbourne’s sprawling western\u00a0suburbs, a lack of tree cover can make\u00a0the summer heat unbearable.\u00a0But work is underway to build a greener, cooler future.<\/p>\n

“This is an opportunity to embed this in the planning design and principles across the state,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re building as many homes as we can, but we can’t sacrifice tree canopy, so we have to be thinking about this in everything we’re doing.”<\/p>\n

A Victorian government spokesperson said work was being done to boost canopies across Melbourne, with stronger protections introduced for trees over 5 metres tall.<\/p>\n

“These reforms are all about making sure communities across our suburbs can enjoy the benefits of shade, cleaner air and more liveable neighbourhoods for generations to come,” they said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From above, Orana estate in Melbourne’s outer south-east looks a lot like many other new housing developments in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[75,210609,43,44,151345,210610,41,39,42,40,36149,18041,210608],"class_list":["post-394005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-environment","tag-green-street","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-orana","tag-orana-estate","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-tree","tag-tree-canopy","tag-urban-heat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}