Yarra’s activity centres are predominantly along and around Yarra's main retail shopping streets. They feature highly intact heritage streetscapes and places that are valued by the community and each has their own role and character.

Activity centres will continue to accommodate most of the city’s growth - with the addition of mid-rise commercial development and apartments - because of their proximity to transport infrastructure, shops and services making them the most suitable locations for development.

Yarra is an urbanised environment, with remnant native vegetation located within waterway corridors providing a home for indigenous flora and fauna.

Maintaining and enhancing habitat connectivity for both flora and fauna is key to improving and safeguarding biodiversity within Yarra and its environs.

Heritage is an important feature of Yarra’s identity, which comprises historic buildings, landscapes,

landmarks, streetscapes, subdivision pattern (made up of its streets, lanes and boulevards), and
indigenous heritage.

Protecting heritage places and streetscapes while still allowing appropriate development is a key driver in Yarra.

Increased population in the inner city can bring sustainability benefits through more efficient use of existing infrastructure, more people being able to access existing services, local recreation and employment opportunities, increased use of sustainable transport modes and reduced sprawl on Melbourne’s fringe.

Climate change is resulting in the urban environment getting hotter and drier, with more extreme weather events. Inner city areas, such as Yarra are susceptible to the urban heat island effect and localised flooding and as such Yarra needs to manage the impact from urban development.

Yarra will need to continue to mitigate greenhouse gas contributions and act locally.

Managing the impact of housing growth on the city’s character and urban form is a key challenge

for Yarra as parts of the municipality have experienced rapid rates of development.

Yarra will continue to manage the scale, density and form of residential growth. This will continue to differ across the municipality depending on the capacity of sites to accommodate housing growth and the physical and strategic context of each site.

Facilitating accessible, adaptable, affordable housing options to cater for Yarra’s diverse community,
now and into the future, is a focus for Yarra.

Yarra has capacity for employment growth and is committed to supporting this growth in its employment areas in preference to residential development in these areas.

Yarra's diverse economy means that different land uses often overlap or vary within short distances. This mix of residential, commercial, industrial and entertainment creates a challenge as well as opportunities to manage environmental amenity impacts and enhance activity centres and precincts.

While Yarra is well positioned to facilitate the use of sustainable modes of transport, increasing car use and demand on parking continues to increase pressure and congestion in Yarra’s streets, not just for cars but also for other forms of transport. The competition for limited physical space in our streets is an ongoing issue.

Yarra needs to reduce car dependence by promoting walking, cycling and public transport as the preferred forms of transport.

Infrastructure is required to cater for Yarra’s growing population and the consequential increased
demand on infrastructure.

Open spaces within Yarra make a significant contribution to the distinctive character and amenity of neighbourhoods. They provide passive and active recreation, contribute to the city’s tree canopy, and possess cultural values in places of European and indigenous heritage.

Opportunities to improve and extend the open space network is required to cater for Yarra's increasing population.