Melbourne’s density drops precipitously from high-rises to single-family homes, with very little medium density between. This 'missing middle' is the most desirable, walkable urban form, typified by inner Paris, and it should be legal to build in the most desirable, economically productive areas. 

This report outlines a vision for enabling denser, more lively streetscapes across all of Melbourne. It would be achieved through the report's signature recommendation: enabling six-storey, mixed-use development on all residential land within one kilometre of a train station and 500 metres of a tram – stopbuilding an interconnected network of 1,992 high-amenity, walkable neighbourhoods. 

Key recommendations

• Upzoning all Melbourne land currently zoned for low-density Neighbourhood Residential Zone to higher-density zones like General Residential Zone, Residential Growth Zone, or Missing Middle Zone.
• Making development within the Missing Middle Zone by-right in exchange for one in ten homes being transferred to a public or community housing provider.
• Abolishing demand-side subsidies like the First Home Owner Grant.
• Replacing stamp duty with a broad-based land tax.
• Increasing the Growth Areas Infrastructure Contribution to more accurately represent the costs of this development.
• Abolishing heritage overlays where an on-balance assessment indicates that negative social impacts of the overlay is greater than its benefit.
• Introducing a reduced Residential Windfall Gains Tax rate for value uplift below the current threshold and hypothecating increased tax receipts for public and community housing builds