Revealing Melbourne’s hidden relationship with biodiversity

More than 90 per cent of Australians and 30 per cent of threatened species live in cities – making urban environments critical for biodiversity conservation and human-nature connection. Yet cities remain overlooked as places for finding, engaging with, and nurturing nature.

This project aims to change the way people see nature and biodiversity in cities. Using interdisciplinary science, data visualisations and storytelling, the team will design and publish a series of interactive maps of Melbourne, revealing the hidden dimension of biodiversity in urban. Themes include everyday ways to support native pollinators, the secret lives of urban mammals, historic trees as witness to change, fear and fascination of venomous neighbours, hidden delight of overlooked landscapes, and how communities can contribute to biodiversity knowledge through citizen science.

The topics were decided through a series of workshops hosted by Urban Biodiversity Research Cluster within the Melbourne Centre for Cities based on novelty, value and potential impact to policy and practice, and availability of suitable data. Each map will be paired with a Pursuit article explaining the supporting science and insights, along with a digital short-form video for broader reach.

The project engages MDAP's expertise in data analytics and visualisation research design, and dedicated infrastructure support. MDAP will guide the team to transform biodiversity and ecological spatial datasets into compelling, accessible digital narratives that engage the public, policymakers, and practitioners.

The resulting public engagement campaign, Six maps that will change the way you look at biodiversity in cities,aims to challenge misconceptions about biodiversity in cities and highlight how hidden nature improves daily lives.

By making complicated environmental issues accessible, the collaboration will help shift public perceptions to recognise cities as biodiversity habitats and enhance community engagement in conservation and environmental sustainability. The maps will also provide policy makers with access to science-informed information needed to drive policy change.