Illustration: Robin Cowcher.  Illustration: Robin Cowcher.  For
generations, our essential services have come from afar. In
cities, especially, our electricity, gas and water arrive from
elsewhere and our waste goes away.  But it won't necessarily
stay that way.  Last week, at the Thriving Neighbourhoods
conference at Melbourne Exhibition Centre, post-graduate
students and industry types collaborated in a workshop on
''decentralised district infrastructure''.  This was the
scenario: what if E-Gate - the wedge of land between Docklands
and North Melbourne station - was developed as a sustainable
precinct? How could it generate electricity, treat wastewater,
retain stormwater and deal with rubbish?  Peter Steele, from
Moreland Energy Foundation, led the discussion on
infrastructure. He says a big shift has already begun. ''At its
most basic level, solar panels and water tanks are forms of
decentralised infrastructure, and installations are taking
off,'' he says.  For a large-scale example, Mr Steele points to
H