![\"Cara](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2eac2150a6ec06998d97d1d31f89fa5d196e1074.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
March 15, 2026 \u2014 6:59pm<\/p>\n
Save<\/p>\n
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n
Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Former World Bank principal planner Alain Bertaud warns that Melbourne\u2019s green wedges and tight planning controls have turned it into a \u201cstarfish\u201d city with growth radiating outwards.<\/p>\n Bertaud says this design exacerbated the housing crisis in Melbourne<\/a> with a lack of affordability that affects younger generations the most.<\/p>\n Bertaud, the author of Order Without Design: How Markets Shape Cities, visited Melbourne last week as part of a series of talks around Australia organised by housing advocacy group YIMBY Melbourne<\/a>.<\/p>\n At a roundtable discussion attended by planning and housing experts, Bertaud said cities around the world used to compete to attract companies but in the future would do so to attract young workers.<\/p>\n He pointed to Amazon pitting US cities against each other<\/a> to determine which would house the company\u2019s second headquarters, which prompted cities to offer billions of dollars in tax incentives.<\/p>\n Related Article However, Bertaud said the problem with this approach was that if cities subsidised Amazon to establish a base, they would pay property tax even if Amazon didn\u2019t. Instead, he said, they should compete for young workers.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you do not solve your housing problem, you are going to lose some of the younger workers and the economy of the city will go down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A city\u2019s economic survival strategy depends on ensuring housing affordability for young people entering the workforce.<\/p>\n Bertaud said regardless of where workers lived in a metropolitan area, they should be able to access a job anywhere in a city within one hour<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis means that the transport system has to respond to that,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that means, of course, housing is available for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Bertaud is critical of planning controls such as minimum lot sizes and minimum floor sizes, which he said could limit housing availability, as the parameters are set by planners who do not know the price of land, the distribution of income or the price of construction, which are constantly changing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have established a rigidity based on perceived needs,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat you need is something you can afford and a house which is not a poverty trap. That means where you can access your job for which you are qualified and that you prefer.\u201d<\/p>\n Bertaud also took issue with Melbourne\u2019s 12 green wedge zones<\/a>, which were conceived in the early 1970s and legislated in 2002, and preserve the land for non-urban uses such as farming, biodiversity and low-density activities such as airports and quarries.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cYou had a policy with the wedges which defined what could be built and what cannot be built long in advance,\u201d the renowned planner said. \u201cSomebody has drawn a line, which is completely arbitrary, and shaped the city in a way I will call it a half starfish.\u201d<\/p>\n Bertaud said Melbourne\u2019s starfish shape meant growth had to radiate outwards along the city\u2019s arms, and there was a large concentration of jobs in the city centre with a \u201cradio concentric\u201d system of public transport.<\/p>\n However, his experience of cities with a concentration of jobs in the city centre, like Paris, London and New York, is that eventually jobs move out to the periphery because central rents are too expensive.<\/p>\n Bertaud said the starfish shape with jobs dispersed in the suburbs would lead to more reliance on cars because that would be the only way to travel from one \u201carm\u201d of the city to another.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cIf this is the trade-off most people want to do, then the only feasible means of transport is individual car, the model is Fort Worth [near] Dallas,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have the city you deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n Bertaud said the starfish design was not necessarily bad, as Hong Kong has a similar population size to Fort Worth and one of the most sophisticated public transport systems in the world, yet the average commuting time is shorter in the Texan city.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s terrible if planners have a vision of a city which is completely different than from what people want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Jonathan O\u2019Brien, the lead organiser of YIMBY Melbourne, said Bertaud\u2019s starfish analogy was evident in Melbourne\u2019s expansion.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at Melbourne, we have ended up with these linear corridors that run along train lines or highways or both, which mean it is hard to connect orbitally, which I think is part of what the Suburban Rail Loop is trying to solve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n O\u2019Brien said YIMBY Melbourne was concerned about planning regulations that force people to consume more land or floor space than they otherwise would, and Melbourne\u2019s green wedges might contribute to this.<\/p>\n \u201cDo we need to push further and further out or is there opportunity to make the trade-offs within the urban growth boundaries but underutilised land like the green wedges?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Alain](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7b9dd1b5d9f1170d83002398c535b2c8ad7db05d.jpeg\")
Alain Bertaud, the former World Bank principal planner, during his visit to Melbourne.Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/214f142f63429f253c1db7e0b566f82768cd4352.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Housing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/46bfc8c62db2de578feed151ad7a45e5d5b3ef7e.jpeg\")
Housing on Melbourne\u2019s fringe. Bertaud says workers in a metropolitan area should be able to access a job within one hour.Paul Rovere<\/p>\n![\"Pearcedale](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/96befe599c4886c48f4fc719444c72b94b1d07e0.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Baby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/96ee39091d4451171f212913c4431490c2a71bca.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Jonathan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/b8f0134206556d8f93a1cc41b595ae95bacca0f7.jpeg\")
Jonathan O\u2019Brien of YIMBY Melbourne.Penny Stephens<\/p>\n