Melbourne, your street art and laneways are overrated. We’re just putting lipstick on a concrete pig

March 29, 2024 — 2.59pm It’s been years since Melbourne held the title of world’s most livable city, and with Sydney hot on our heels to overtake the title for Australia, is it time we admit our art-filled laneways, outdoor dining culture and shared streets are little more than lipstick on a concrete pig? Melbourne has relied on the same tricks for decades, and the result is that our city is moving away from being a thriving and gritty creative centre into something, dare I say, dull and mainstream. When I moved to Melbourne as a young starry eyed town planner, I anticipated being told to turn around and head straight back home to Brisbane – my help wouldn’t be needed here. Eight years later I’m still here and frankly disappointed that a decade of exciting “temporary urbanism” projects, otherwise known as anything short-term and low-cost, have been heralded as an end point rather than a beginning. Melbourne’s laneway art has long been a tourist attraction, but is the appeal starting to wane?Credit: AMANDA FORDYCE Take our love of street art, something Melbourne has embraced since Collingwood was graced with a Keith Haring mural in the ’80s, and which then...