Action Taken to Stop Work on East West Link in Royal Park

Trees and vegetation lower surface and air temperatures by providing shade and through evapotranspiration. Results show that, averaged over all urban areas, the added vegetation decreases surface air temperature in urban street and road-surface and building-wall temperatures as a result of tree shading and evapotranspiration. An urban heat island is lifting city-centre temperatures, with Melbourne leading the nation for heat-related deaths, according to a national report. And Melbourne City Council has found temperature variations of up to 4 degrees between the city centre and suburbs because of the heat-island effect. The Age: Melbourne city centre a death trap as heat island effect takes its toll The number of heat-related deaths in Melbourne is expected to more than double by 2030. In 2012 the City of Melbourne commissioned a study into the economic impacts of the heat waves, extreme heat days and urban heat island effect within the municipality. The report examined the current and predicted future costs associated with heat across a range of areas including human health, antisocial behaviour, transport delays and energy use. Moreland has been assessed has having a high social vulnerability to extreme heat events by recent scientific research involving spatial vulnerability analysis of urban populations. Australia’s major cities routinely rank among the world’s most liveable. But for all our clean streets, good healthcare and educational opportunities, one of the things we have to contend with is our sweltering summer heat. Rising temperatures due to climate change and the urban heat island effect has made our transport system vulnerable. Contrary to logic, environmental health and human welfare, more than 9 hectares of Melbourne’s historic Royal Park is set to disappear under the East-West Link toll road. Predictably, The Property Council of Australia says it is deeply concerned by the announcement of the Opposition's promise to abandon the East West Link project, which comes after it received repeated assurances that any signed contract would be honoured. Those with vested interests in Victoria's bondage to the real estate and population growth industries, and the extension of corporate supply chains, will benefit from the East West link - until population growth catches up again that clogs up our public transport and road again! Melbourne is becoming a monster, a monument to ignorance and a retro economic model based on generic growth in human numbers, housing, concrete road networks, and a city designed and "planned" by the property industry and business corporations.