From manufacturing zone to lifestyle precinct: Economic restructuring and social change in inner Melbourne, 1971-2001

Abstract

Deindustrialisation, decline in manufacturing employment, gentrification, and the regeneration of inner urban areas characterized the experiences of many Western cities during the late twentieth century. In North America and Europe, economic and urban historians have studied these profound changes, but not so in Australia. This paper charts the decline of manufacturing in Melbourne's inner suburbs in the 1970s and 1980s and its replacement by, firstly, small-scale manufacturers catering to local niche markets, and later by 'warehouse-style' residential development. © Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd and the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand 2009.