Melbourne 9
Melbourne's inner councils are facing major growth in housing, population and jobs — but the infrastructure funding isn't keeping pace.
Melbourne 9 (M9), the alliance of Melbourne's nine inner metropolitan councils, engaged us to assess what this growth means for infrastructure and funding, under the Victorian Government's Plan for Victoria and Housing Targets.
Using our Small Area Forecast Model (SAM), tailored with localised demographic and employment modelling for the M9 region, we quantified demand across local, structural and city-shaping infrastructure, and benchmarked this against Victorian Government and Infrastructure Victoria provision standards. We translated this demand into realistic delivery assumptions — including integrated community hubs and co-located facilities — then costed it and compared the results against each council's funding capacity.
We found a major, ongoing funding shortfall across the region. This became a shared, evidence-based case for funding reform, now supporting coordinated advocacy to the Victorian and Australian Governments.
We brought together population modelling, infrastructure planning and public finance to give councils a clear, evidence-based case for funding growth in established urban areas.
