In the sunshine of True Spring or Poorneet (tadpole) season we gathered at RMIT PlaceLab to connect and share the abundances of spring. On the same day, we woke up to the news that six of Earth’s nine planetary boundaries have been breached, while simultaneously pressure in all boundary processes is increasing. This raised the question - how do we reconcile the different postures between the experience of this life giving season, and the knowledge of how threatened life currently is?

Part of the work ahead is creating resilient and adaptive social infrastructure for collective impact. We have a responsibility to acknowledge our contribution to the problem, but also to act. Looking back at our history, we can draw inspiration from the restoration of the Ozone layer, which was once a transgressed limit before it was restored to a healthy state through global cooperation. We have the ability and experience to accomplish the seemingly impossible, together. 

Following the format of previous assemblies, the team introduced our portfolio of Wildly Ambitious Projects and set up stations for everyone to explore the different aspects of activity happening across Regen Melbourne - all connected by the shared spirit of taking agency and action for the city we love. 

Missed it or are interested in coming along to the next one? Here is a quick recap.

• Swimmable Birrarung: What emotional or cultural story stops you from jumping into the river right now? 

• Participatory Melbourne: What does it mean to participate in our neighbourhoods, the commons, the market and the state? What feels similar in these domains, what is different? 

• Regen Streets: What is your recipe  for your Regenerative Street? 

• Measuring What Matters: How can we use the City Portrait as a compass for transformative action? 

• Other: How do we engage in collaborative play with Doughnut Economics, to work together and save the world?  

Swimmable Birrarung 

When we introduce the Wildly Ambitious Project to make the Birrarung/Yarra River swimmable again people either light up with excitement and a story they have about the river, or grimace and say “good luck”.  

We’re constantly learning about the barriers to a swimmable Birrarung - some real and some perceived., Challenges such as stormwater drainage, upstream agricultural pollution, the fact it’s illegal, Melburnians generally low literacy on river safety (compared to beach safety), the list goes on. 

Participatory Melbourne  

After the exploration phase, Participatory Melbourne is emerging as an initiative with the goal of a thriving democratic life for all. What capacities, infrastructure and conditions do we need to meaningfully participate in all the realms of our lives, and ultimate pursue freedoms within the systems we live in rather than pursue freedom from the systems we live in (thanks Indy Johar for that zinger). 

To this end, we’re starting to look at what meaningful participation looks like across multiple domains of our life. In this way we can understand the connections between what it means to participate in our place. 

Regen Streets 

Regen Streets is all about downscaling and localising our regenerative movement at the neighbourhood level.

Nina, our experienced local convenor for Village Zero Sandringham, layed out the different ingredients that were at play in getting Village Zero started including: federal government backing, an engaged local council, diverse community groups, a brand, capacity to organise, a library to meet in. This station then explored which ingredients are staples  and which other ingredients give the cake their own unique flavours of place. 

Measuring What Matters

Recently, much of Regen Melbourne’s work has been focused on the City Portrait. We’re getting ready for a launch in November and the digital prototype has been in testing mode as part of the Wild Hope: Conversations for a Planetary Commons exhibition, in collaboration with RMIT University and PlaceLab. 

Quick recap: The City Portrait is a snapshot of Greater Melbourne’ progress towards meeting the needs of society while not transgressing the means of our earth's systems (no surprises, we’re currently not doing either) - organised around a conceptual model for economies in the 21st century, called Doughnut Economics. 

The Doughnut can be used in two ways, as a mirror to reflect how well we’re doing toward that ultimate goal, and as a compass to guide us toward what we need to get there. A lot of our recent work has been developing the ‘mirror’ part, collectively setting the goals then metrics for our social foundations, while working with researchers on our planetary overshoot. This way by November 13th (launch day!) we’ll be able to show a snapshot of our city’s progress. 

But what about the compass? What will we do with this information, and what is already underway either individually or organisationally that is contributing to this progress? 

Other 

Our most famous project area, where all the bits happen that don’t fit neatly into the existing portfolio.

This was filled by the wonderful alliance member, Katherine Cunningham of AlchemicalWork, who led a game of Earth Rising. Players work together to bring the world into sustainable harmony - playing with roles like eco-investor, activist and politician to collaboratively reduce the strain on our planetary boundaries.

Basically - Doughnut Economics in game form (we highly recommend!).  

Thanks to all who made it along to the Spring Assembly!