New blog on Policy Alignment as a Key Driver for Inclusion in Urban Areas

The University of Melbourne, Australia

Many local governments worldwide have actively started thinking about making cities more inclusive and sustainable for their residents.

The latest MIOIR blog discusses Melbourne, the second-largest city in Australia approach to inclusion in urban areas, offering insights into how Greater Manchester can learn from the Australian city's experience.

In this blog authored by Dr Alina Kadyrova, a Lecturer in Innovation at Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, who collaborated on a research project investigating how urban innovation models such as innovation districts could bridge the widening social and economic inequalities of metropolitan areas. Melbourne has recently introduced a ten-year Inclusive Melbourne Strategy aimed at supporting inclusive development, with three key priority areas: (1) inclusive workforce and public services, (2) sustainable and fair economic recovery, and (3) empowered communities.

The Strategy was developed based on extensive community consultation and focus groups with diverse stakeholders, and Dr Kadyrova discusses the contextual factors that influence the approach to inclusion in Melbourne, including the governance structure, the number of policies addressing inclusion, and the institutionalised community engagement process.

This research project was funded by the University of Manchester-Melbourne research internationalisation fund. The wider project team includes Elvira Uyarra, Kieron Flanagan, Philip Shapira, Mabel Sanchez-Barrioluengo, Xiuqin Li (Alliance Manchester Business School) and Richard Jones (Faculty of Science and Engineering).

You can read the full blog here.