ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a snapshot of trends affecting generalised measures of liveability prior to and during Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and beyond. It presents some observations about Melbourne, a city with an enviable reputation for liveability and its response to COVID-19 and a future of co-existence with the pandemic. Melbourne is a global and liveable city known for its multicultural diversity and its cosmopolitan inner urban core. The City of London responding to the great plague of 1665 enacted municipal orders quarantining ‘infected houses' mandating inspections, requiring extra cleaning of housing and streets, restricting assemblies at theatres, and implementing trade embargos. The conditional phased easing of restrictions outlined in Victoria's ‘Roadmap to Reopening', September 2020, outlines public policy settings that balance human health priorities with the staged reopening of the state's economy. Valuable lessons have had to been learnt quickly about how to plan, organise, and administer our city and safeguard citizens during a global pandemic.
