Melbourne’s secret sauce – laneway grit blue-chip brains – keeps drawing in the world. Clear skies (with the planet’s 12th-best Air Quality) frame a city doubling down on movement and culture. The Metro Tunnel opens in 2025 with five new stations (Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac), slashing cross-city trips and hardwiring the biomedical and university spine – timely for a knowledge base ranked #13 for University and #26 for Educational Attainment.
Along the Yarra, early works on the Greenline are stitching a 2.5-mile sequence of promenades, habitat and public art across the river’s north bank, due to roll out in stages through the second half of the decade. A sizzling arts and events scene that powers a #23 finish for Theaters & Concerts keeps humming – from Hamer Hall and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl to big-ticket nights around the Australian Open and Formula 1. Hospitals and labs anchor a health system that places #30 globally, with the Parkville–Arden biomedical corridor adding next-gen research space as the new Arden precinct comes online around its namesake station. FDI and domestic capital are clustering in Docklands and Fishermans Bend for advanced manufacturing and R&D.