The morning has just turned light when Lisa Nicholson’s alarm sounds.
asserted
alarm → turn → ?
She taps her phone screen to turn it off, before sitting up and stretching muscles still tired from the day before.
asserted
She → tap → day
After saying good morning to her teenage son, she walks out to her carport, where she hauls a lawn mower, whipper snipper, leaf blower and hand tools into the back of her little green Mazda 2.
asserted
she → say → Mazda
Peering above the pile of metal in her rearview mirror, she backs out of her driveway, and sets off to create lush sanctuaries in Melbourne’s neighbourhoods of concrete and brick.
asserted
she → peer → concrete
Tomorrow, she’ll do it all again – but as the city heats up, her days are getting earlier.
asserted
days → do → it
“I’ll try to get out and get all my work done in summer by midday,” says Nicholson, owner of gardening business Petite Gardens.
asserted
Nicholson → try → Gardens
“It’s a killer in the afternoon.
asserted
It → ’ → afternoon
“Once the weather starts to really crank up – sometimes it’s earlier in the year, sometimes it’s later – it does affect the business.”
asserted
it → start → business
Gender and urban design expert Nicole Kalms says that, as temperatures rise with climate change, cities including Melbourne will shift their work, commerce and recreation to the nighttime economy.
asserted
cities → say → economy
Prioritising green space is a focus for Kalms, but she knows the shift to an after-dark economy also comes with an unintended cost for women.
asserted
shift → prioritise → women
If women don’t feel safe out at night and in unlit areas, will they be excluded?
asserted
they → feel → areas
The topic of healthy places and people is one of the key pillars of Melbourne Assembly, a civic forum The Age is hosting in October, bringing together the world’s brightest minds, industry leaders, key decision-makers and the community to shape the city’s future.
asserted
Age → host → future
Nicholson says that, if she didn’t have the agency to work around the heat, “I certainly wouldn’t do the work I’m doing”.
asserted
I → say → work
“I’m not averse to being out there and working hard, and being sweaty and all the rest of it,” she says.
asserted
she → ’m → it
“But I will also not work in really extreme conditions because honestly, my clients don’t expect me to either.”
asserted
me → work → conditions
Escaping the heat isn’t just a matter of comfort.
asserted
Escaping → escape → comfort
It’s a matter of health.
asserted
It → ’ → health
And, as the city looks to its future ahead of Melbourne Assembly, tree canopy experts are keeping a dogged watch over the state government’s plan to densify suburban transport hubs through designated “activity centres”.
asserted
experts → look → centres
Tree canopy has a direct correlation with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, and fatal or non-fatal heart attacks, an Australian study has found.
asserted
study → have → mortality
The activity centres run vast lines through Melbourne, with one in four concentrated in the Stonnington council area, in the leafy east.
asserted
four → run → east
But they also trace a path over sparse tree canopy hotspots, including West Footscray, Seddon, North Essendon, Brunswick, Thornbury and Preston.
asserted
they → trace → Footscray
RMIT University urban planner Thami Croeser, who helped compile tree canopy data for The Age, says experts are waiting to see whether developers prioritise good tree cover across the suburbs.
asserted
developers → compile → suburbs
Historically, they’ve taken up almost entire parcels of land with apartment buildings, leaving little space for gardens or trees.
asserted
they → take → gardens
Suburbs earmarked for Suburban Rail Loop stations could also bring in tens of thousands of new homes in towers of up to 20 stories across Melbourne.
uncertain
Suburbs → earmark → Melbourne
“There is a bit of concern in the tree canopy space that it’s all housing-focused, and not on the vital tree canopy that needs to make that housing liveable,” Croeser says.
asserted
Croeser → be → canopy
“As we densify, we want to ensure we don’t crush every tree in the neighbourhood.”
asserted
we → densify → neighbourhood
As Melbourne’s skyline pushes outward and upward, urban designers say the environment below has never been more crucial.
asserted
environment → push → ?
Among them is Kalms, whose app is putting that premise into practice.
asserted
app → put → practice
Walking comfortably and safely
At the top of a tree-lined suburban street in Melbourne’s outer south-east stands an unassuming green metal fence.
Taking a few steps beyond it reveals a ridge perched over a vast valley, where turtles crane their necks to break the surface of a lake cradled in its centre.
asserted
turtles → walk → centre
Rabbits burrow near the banks of the lake.
asserted
Rabbits → burrow → lake
And, up on the ridge at Wilson Botanic Park in Berwick, a kookaburra hops alongside the footpath, gobbling up a worm before it flies back to the oak tree from where it came.
asserted
it → hop → where
This is a daytime route on the YourWalk app, created specifically with women and vulnerable people in mind.
asserted
This → create → mind
Its walking routes prioritise tree cover, shade and accessible footpaths during the day, as well as adequate lighting at night – when many women don’t feel safe.
asserted
women → prioritise → night
Rubina Nawabi is one of them – a 55-year-old mother of four living in the City of Casey, where the local council has partnered with Monash University XYX Lab and spatial data studio CrowdLab to pilot the YourWalk app.
asserted
council → live → app
After dark, the Hallam-based social worker rarely goes out, unless she’s driving (not a given for women in Casey, where many families share a single car).
asserted
families → base → car
She refuses to take her usual low-lit shortcut if she is out walking after sunset and fears for her teenage daughter, who recently walked home for three kilometres with friends from Westfield Fountain Gate at about 6pm.
“If I knew, I would have really gone and picked them up,” Nawabi says.
asserted
Nawabi → refuse → them
“It becomes really scary.
asserted
It → become → ?
But as we come towards this way [Hallam], it becomes isolated with not many people on the roads, and there is not much light.”
asserted
it → come → roads
Women consistently cite an absence of lighting (namely quality, warm lighting) as the biggest factor stopping them from going out at night, Kalms says.
asserted
Kalms → cite → night
That’s alongside the unpredictable behaviour of violent men.
asserted
That → ’ → men
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
