BMW partners with RMIT students to imagine eco-friendly Melbourne of 2030

Students at RMIT have created their own vision of what mobility could look like in the city of Melbourne by the end of this decade as part of a competition partnership with BMW Australia.

YourMelbourne tasks students with creating their idea of the city in 2030 – factoring in the challenges of climate change, a growing population and the need for evolving transport solutions. As part of the project, they also had to weave in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations General Assembly.

Entrants came up with everything from imagining clever aeration methods to clean up Melbourne’s waterways and revolutionising pavement coverings to enhance personal mobility comfort, to designing the next-generation shared vehicle network to remedy the rising problem of congestion.

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Wolfgang Buechel, CEO of BMW Group Australia, said he was deeply impressed after reviewing the submissions.

“It is incredibly inspiring to see the future of our city through the lens of next-generation visionaries,” Buechel said.

“Their forward-thinking ideas offer a brighter, greener and exciting perspective on how Melbourne could further develop to embrace sustainable mobility solutions.

“From improvements on public and personal mobility, to reimagining suburban life, their ground-breaking solutions not only bring out their ability to think creatively and holistically; they also underscore the importance on paving the way for these brilliant young people to realise their vision.”

First, second and third place were awarded in two categories: Individual and Group. Winners were given $5000 and $2500 (each) in cash respectively.

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Aditya Dhankhar's submission

This year’s individual category winner, Aditya Dhankhar, presented an idea of a self-sustaining suburbia featuring ‘rolling farms’ to circulate local fresh farm produce, and transforming the city into a green oasis with infrastructure solutions for electromobility.

Group category winners, Alisha Turone, Deyan Piculovski and Jianfang Lin provided a holistic eco-structure for Melbourne in the year 2030, with highlights such as raised pathways which double as community hubs, city gardens and filtration systems retrofitted onto train bridges to clean up the Yarra River.

Each submission was judged by a panel, which included members of staff from both BMW Group Australia and RMIT.

Professor Heath McDonald, Dean of School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT College of Business and Law, praised the diversity of ideas put forward in the competition.

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Alisha Turone, Deyan Piculovski and Jianfang Lin's submission

“Over the past two years, our partnership with BMW Group Australia for the YourMelbourne competition has successfully encouraged students to carefully consider their future and how the different puzzle pieces of society come together in one cohesive concept,” Professor McDonald said.

“Each and every submission demonstrated creative talent with the winning submissions showcasing unique interpretations of the future of Melbourne that our community should aspire towards, and this competition is one of the ways we provide a voice to the students to inspire others to think sustainably.”

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Wolfgang Buechel, CEO of BMW Group Australia

2022 Your Melbourne winners