PlanningxChange 118: YIMBY Melbourne: Build, Baby, Build

In PX118 our guests are Jonathan O’Brien and Jonathan Nolan of YIMBY Melbourne.

Details of YIMBY Melbourne are at https://www.yimby.melbourne

YIMBY Melbourne seeks a ‘People-led’ ‘Grassroots’ ‘For Housing Abundance.’ 

The YIMBY website states: ‘A better Melbourne is possible. A Melbourne that is affordable, liveable, and sustainable. A city that is walkable, accessible, and which gives everyone access to the amenity-rich areas that make living here so special.

Creating housing abundance will take a lot of work. It will require reform across planning, governance, and taxation. It will force us to take a serious look at how we use, value, and control the use of land in this city.

The two Jonathan’s outline the problems with the current planning system and how this leads to disadvantage, exclusion and a lack of new housing. They propose various measures that can redress the problems. They also call for volunteers to assist the cause.

An engaging interview with dedicated activists who have created a new third party force in the housing / planning policy - public awareness space.

In Podcast Extra / Culture Corner, Jonathan Nolan recommends a website he has created (https://citydensity.com) which looks at the population density of major cities in relation to distance from the CBD.

Jonathan O’Brien recommends ‘Arbitary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and how to fix it’ by M Nolan Gray (https://islandpress.org/books/arbitrary-lines#desc) 

He also recommends ‘The Boat’ by Nam Le (https://www.sbs.com.au/theboat/) and https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-boat-9780143009610

Jess recommends a book ‘What happened to Nina’ by Dervla McTiernan (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/171793386-what-happened-to-nina) and a podcast ‘The Imperfect’ (https://theresilienceproject.com.au/at-home/podcasts/).

Pete recommends ‘Climate - the movie (the cold truth)’ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A24fWmNA6lM and the Radio Taiso (also spelt Rajio Taiso which translates to ‘radio exercises’) morning exercise program released by NHK - see YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6ZRH9Mraqw

Audio produced by Jack Bavage. Podcast released 24 June 2024.