Abstract: The urban space in Melbourne’s city centre has obviously evolved into a sustainable urban form in the process of historical transformation, under various agents of supervision over years. It is noticed the spatial growth has been consistently and intentionally directed towards sustainable development. A compact pattern of the city centre is modelled to accomplish a good city form in the modern term. This paper is dedicated to discover the process of the urban development in the context of Melbourne’s city centre, by illustrating the physical transformation in a set of figure-ground maps. An investigation into the spatial structure within the Hoddle Grid – a schematic street plan dated to 1837 with alternative wide and narrow streets laid out by Robert Hoddle – is held to implement the research inquiry. Three significant morphological components, namely street, block and building form, are tracked as systematic measurement of the spatial transformation. In addition, the evolution of block subdivision has also been monitored for its continuous adaption and adjustment to the environmental disturbances. Influenced by external factors, the city blocks have been witnessed subdivision and consolidation alternatively, in response to the vibrant economic and political forces in different stages. Arising from nothing in a flat ground since 1837, the original Hoddle Grid has been proved to be the most resilient and sustainable element in the urban structure. Nowadays the city centre has been pictured as an urban entity developing in mass and volume.