Geography Victoria Annual CBD Walking Tour – Let’s go north!
By Bev Knowles – Geography Victoria Member
Sunday 12 April, 2026
One of the highlights of the Geography Victoria calendar is the Annual Melbourne Walking tour led by retired City of Melbourne architect and Director of City Design and Projects Professor Rob Adams AM. The main focus of the 2026 tour was the CBD north of the Town Hall with further examples of how the City of Melbourne, over 30 years, has repurposed over 80 hectares of asphalt and underused infrastructure to redress the imbalance between the space allocated to cars rather than residents, pedestrians, bikes and public transport.
Beginning at the flower stall outside the Town Hall, we were issued with headset receivers which precludes the need to stop for a long period at any one spot but provides enough time to take photos and ask questions.
Our first stop, via Little Collins Street and the Royal Arcade, was the Bourke Street Mall which was converted to a pedestrian mall in 1978. En route, Rob talked about Melbourne’s laneways, which originated from Robert Hoddle’s 1837 grid. Designed as service alleys for rear-property access, deliveries and sanitation, after the 1850s gold rush they evolved into busy, gritty and often criminal pathways before being transformed since the 1990s into vibrant, pedestrianised hubs of art, coffee and culture. Rob described the impact of big projects such as the “Postcode 3000 Strategy”, a strategic push by the City of Melbourne to incentivise living in the city centre through residential conversion. Rob also explained the smaller initiatives, including the evolution of the street furniture and ways in which the widening of pavements can improve the amenity of the city.
The tour took us to Cohen Place Plaza, where a pair of marble lions sit before the replica of a Ming Dynasty archway donated by the People’s Republic of China, and to Tianjin Plaza Gardens, a serene garden at the eastern entrance of Chinatown on Spring Street. Heading down Collins Street we passed Collins Place a landmark mixed-use complex designed by I.M. Pei & Partners with Bates Smart & McCutcheon, completed in 1981. As Australia’s first major mixed-use development, it features two 50-level towers (35 and 55 Collins Street), the Sofitel Melbourne, a shopping plaza, and the iconic "Great Space" atrium.
A quick tram ride took us to the Victoria Street Plaza, opposite the City Baths and on to Therry Street, alongside the Queen Victoria Market, which was bursting with people of all ages. Here, Rob highlighted the positive impact of the removal of a line of parking spaces and the extension of the opposite pavement leading to the Queen Street plaza completed in May 2019. It includes new citrus trees in planter containers; large planter boxes; large umbrellas to provide shade; new bench seats; relocation of the existing benches and tree planters into the new plaza layout; powered spaces to support performance and other creative uses; and adjustment of the existing kerbs and surfaces to create a safe and accessible space.
The edgy outdoor cafes serving terrific multicultural food were packed. We paused briefly at the Narrm-ngarrgu Library and Family Service building located within the Munro development directly opposite the market.
Returning to Elizabeth Street another tram took us to The University of Melbourne. The University Square Master Plan sets the direction to transition the 19th century landscape into a modern space that will provide more room for the community and complement a range of future uses, while recognising the rich history of the site. The Master Plan outlines a vision for the Square that will better serve the local community, students, workers and visitors.
Stage one was completed in 2019, creating a large new open space, additional trees, a biodiverse garden, seating and terrace spaces.
With Parkville Station now open, stage two works are underway. These align with the updated 2016 Master Plan, which responds to the changes the Metro Tunnel will deliver to Carlton, and a detailed design process which included community consultation on the draft design.
We strolled on to Lincoln Square, site of the Bali Memorial. This fountain and landscaped site memorialise those who lost their lives or were injured by the bomb blasts that devastated Kuta, Bali on 12 October 2002 and honours those who helped in the aftermath. It has been conceived as a place of comfort, its seating offering a place for quiet contemplation. The memorial’s centrepiece is a low concrete platform in which two rectangular pools are sunk. These house 91 jets representing the Australians who perished in the bombing. The names of the 22 Victorians killed are recorded on the sides of the fountain. A plaque on the eastern side of the memorial records the names of the Australians who lost their lives. The fountain’s 202 lights represent all who died on that night. On each anniversary of the bombing, the fountain recedes to create a reflection pool.
The Lincoln Square playground is located under huge, shady 150-year-old Moreton Bay Figs. It’s believed to be the site of Melbourne’s first public playground, and its current design provides imaginative nature play for a wide range of ages. The main highlight are two wooden cubbies perched on top of high poles and separated by a long rope net bridge.
Our final stop was Argyle Square, a landscaped park off Lygon Street. The Square has a magnificent stone-paved piazza which was laid by an Italian craftsman using crushed bluestone rather than mortar. It features a large sundial design and steps leading up from the street.
From here, it was a short walk to the Kathleen Syme Library, where participants were treated to a delightful lunch as Rob provided a short presentation that explained the strategic thinking that has transformed the city over the past 30 years. Of note are the number of trees that have been planted since 2012. The City of Melbourne now manages over 80,000 public trees in its municipality, with more than 1,300 new trees planted specifically in the central city since 2012. While specific, consistent annual tree counts for the CBD alone over the past 30 years are not publicly detailed as a single dataset, the overall urban forest has grown significantly since the 2012 Urban Forest Strategy, which aims to increase canopy cover to 40% by 2040.
Geography Victoria and all participants express our profound thanks for Rob’s generosity in devoting so much time on a Sunday morning to show us another part of what Melbourne, voted the World’s Most Liveable City in 2006 by Time Out - has achieved in sustainable urban design over the past 30 years.
Thanks to Geography Victoria member Bev Knowles for her report on the recent Geography Victoria CBD fieldtrip.