Behind the daily discussion of lockdowns, vaccines and quarantine, the pandemic has sparked a quiet but intense battle over the future of Melbourne.
The central city has been hammered, with closed borders, home-working, online shopping and a wariness of public transport, robbing it of the people that made it the engine room of the Victorian economy. Beyond the Hoddle Grid however, COVID-19 has injected new life into long-neglected suburban shopping strips, backstreets and parks.
Local mayors, cafe owners, retailers – and some senior politicians – say COVID has produced what governments Labor and conservative have promised but failed to deliver for 70 years: A city of villages.
Full story from Melbourne Age here