Environmental toll of Melbourne’s urban sprawl to be revealed at Triennale Milano

Creatives from Monash University, the official representatives of Australia at the 24th Triennale Milano International Exhibition, will use their exhibit to reveal how Melbourne’s focus on housing growth has led to environmental neglect. This year’s theme, Inequalities, will explore the growing inequalities in cities and the contemporary world.

The team from Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA) will present their Australia: Land Use Inequality exhibition to demonstrate how inefficient land use on the fringes of Melbourne is damaging habitats, ancient ecosystems, and culturally significant sites.

Representing Australia at the exhibition are Professor Louise Wright, Associate Professor Catherine Murphy and Professor Nigel Bertram from Monash Urban Lab at MADA, creatives Eugene Perepletchikov and Ziga Testen, and Mauro Baracco from Baracco+Wright Architects.

The team’s exhibit will feature large-scale video works to show the environmental toll of Australia’s urban footprint, where some of the largest houses in the world are found.

The videos will highlight three moments of this development pattern in Melbourne, such as in Beveridge to the north, where housing construction scrapes the topsoil off the Volcanic Plains Grasslands, of which less than 1% remains.

In Cranbourne to the south-east, fences, vegetation removal, and the introduction of domestic animals accompanying new housing threaten the fragile wildlife corridor of the endangered Southern Brown Bandicoot.

Meanwhile, in Sunbury to the north-west, new housing estates are encroaching on First Nations’ cultural landscapes, including ceremonial earthen ‘Bora Rings’.

Professor Wright says Melbourne’s urban sprawl has come at a great cost to habitat and biodiversity.

“In recent years, a significant population increase, tax policies and inflation has led to a housing supply and affordability crisis in Melbourne,” she says.

“To address this crisis, large supplies of land continue to be rezoned on the city’s edge for low-rise housing that can be delivered quickly.

“These lands hold ecological values essential for the life of vegetation, animals, birds and insects endemic to Australia and some under threat of extinction. Yet despite the critical need to protect this non-human life, inefficient land use continues.”

Associate Professor Murphy says the aim of the exhibit is to raise awareness about Melbourne’s land use patterns and advocate for greater equality between humans and other species.
“Australia is home to many unique, endemic species, and with that comes a global responsibility to protect them and ensure their survival,” Murphy says.

“We must align with international commitments that support reduced land clearing and greater respect for non-human life. We need to explore alternative housing models that prioritise urban greening and biodiversity.”
Professor Bertram says the Monash Urban Lab focuses on research aimed at promoting equality in the urban environment.

“Some of our research examines retrofitting and infilling housing to create a more compact city, one that can also make more space for natural ecosystems,” Bertram says.

Held every three years, the Triennale Milano features a series of exhibitions, special projects and public programs, bringing together art, design, architecture, collectives, cultural institutions, museums and research institutes from around the world.

Image: The fragmented landscape of the endangered Volcanic Plains Grassland sealed over by continued development of low rise housing estates on the northern edge of Melbourne, 2024 / Photography by Nigel Bertram