As Melburnians, we take great pride in the quality of life our city offers. From Cranbourne to Melton, the Dandenongs to Williamstown, Melbourne has always been a desirable place to live. We have access to world-class schools and hospitals. Our built and natural environment and cultural institutions are renowned and we enjoy the benefits of a highly stable civic landscape.

However, Melbourne’s consistent ranking as one of the most liveable cities in the world conceals an unpleasant reality: the city is currently in a precarious state. All that liveability – the amenity, the culture, the comfort – comes with hidden costs, partly borne by others who will never reap the benefits of our affluence and stability.

For one thing, the liveability that we have achieved has not been evenly distributed. For all that we have to be proud of, deep-seated inequalities in our city persist. Many Melburnians lack access to affordable housing, experience food insecurity and face barriers to quality healthcare and education. With Greater Melbourne projected to add a million people by 2031, the pressures on our social systems will only intensify.

That’s made worse because much of our liveability is a result of us living beyond our means.

We consume too many resources, convert too much land for human use and produce too much waste. Or, to put it in scientific terms, we’ve been exceeding our ‘Ecological Ceiling’, pushing the limits of what the planet can sustain. And if those excesses aren’t reined in, we’ll be facing more than just ecological disaster, as the effects of climate change widen the cracks in our already fragile systems.

Melbourne’s lifestyles also have ripple effects globally. More ecologically sensitive places are already being permanently altered by the impacts of our consumption. And, the cheap goods and services we frequently take for granted are too often produced by people without the rights and income to meet their basic needs.

Genuine liveability would require us to put in place practices that don’t transfer our cost of living onto someone else, and that distribute the spoils of our self-generated abundance more evenly, for the benefit of the whole community.

A Melbourne that lives within its means would be a city where people produce less waste and fewer carbon emissions, grow more of their food within city boundaries and feel more connected and resilient in the face of climate change. These changes would in turn stimulate economic activity, the funds from which would be used to provide those much-needed social services, education, and infrastructure improvements for all.

This future could be guided into existence using Doughnut Economics as a framework, a model for a liveable and sustainable future that’s quickly gaining traction around the world. Developed by a University of Oxford economist in 2012 and in use today in over 25 cities worldwide, Doughnut Economics offers us a new way of thinking about prosperity – one that places less value on GDP as an indicator of a city’s or country’s success, and more on the wellbeing of its citizens and the sustainability of their actions.

Of course, different places around the world will find themselves at varying points within the Doughnut. Many scientists and economists focus their attention on cities, as they’re large enough collectively to have a dramatic effect on the world – cities are responsible for over 70% of global greenhouse emissions – but small enough individually for local action to have a meaningful impact.

How can we tell how a particular city is performing in relation to this framework? One of the best tools we have is the City Portrait. It is a visual snapshot that sets out how a city is doing socially and ecologically, from both a local and global perspective. This City Portrait for Greater Melbourne is exactly what a group of experts from across industry, academia and government has recently produced for our place.

So, how are we faring? The answer, unfortunately, is not as well as we could be – especially given all the incredible resources at our disposal. Out of the 14 dimensions that make up our Social Foundation, many of our targets are within reach, but only one, Water, is edging into the sweet spot. And, up at the Ecological Ceiling, we are far exceeding our boundaries on almost all fronts. Those pose a significant threat to the liveability not just of our city, but the planet.

But while the results may seem grim, the good news is that this picture isn’t set in stone. It’s a point-in-time snapshot of where we are right now – one that everyone, and especially leaders across sectors, can use to think about the changes we need to make to get where we want to be.

These conversations are already taking place: Across the city, communities, governments and private organisations are coming together to spark action. And the City Portrait has generated a concise list of insights and a set of recommendations for all actors in Greater Melbourne to consider.

It will take hard work. A lot of it. But now that we are equipped with our City Portrait, we can plot a roadmap to success and begin to tackle these issues holistically, and together, ensuring that every Melburnian has the chance to thrive in a thriving city in a thriving world. Success is far from assured. But it is in sight, and thanks to the City Portrait the path forward is clearer than it has ever been before.

With thanks to the team at Fireside for supporting the development of this story.