Planning Blueprint for Sydney's Next 20 Years
My friend is a city planner for the government, and he wrote this long article about Sydney's urban planning for the coming decades on another platform. He doesn't use Reddit that much, but with his permission, I'm reposting it here for him (As this piece is closely tied to the real estate market). Please feel free to share your thoughts! Do you think this plan is realistic, achievable, and cost-effective?
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Last week, the government released the official version of the 20-year (2026–2046) urban planning blueprint for the Greater Sydney region. This is currently the active "spatial planning strategy" for the Greater Sydney metropolitan area. I have selected a few planning maps that I believe are drawing the most attention for everyone's reference.
Introduction
This edition continues to inherit the spatial planning logic of its predecessor, the "Three Cities" framework, to keep building a Greater Sydney region made up of three CBDs (Central Business Districts). This approach is decided by Sydney's natural geography, and future development will continue along this same path. However, this time, the plan strongly emphasizes that the Eastern District will shoulder the heavy responsibility of housing, while the Western District needs to focus on making its industries bigger and stronger to provide more job opportunities.
Figure 1 - Current Housing Areas
The topic of housing is a hot button issue across the entire plan. Many media outlets are even straight up calling this plan the "Sydney Housing Plan." As you can see, the current housing areas in Figure 1 have expanded a lot across the map. This is thanks to the state government's powerful legal pathways for TOD (Transit-Oriented Development) and LMR (Low and Mid-Rise housing), which have clearly grown the zones available for development.
Figure 2 - Future Planned Housing Growth Areas
You can clearly see that the darker the color, the more growth there is. On top of continuing to push for more housing along the traditional transport corridors, this time, the upper and lower shores of the Eastern District, the areas surrounding the CBDs, and the northwest suburbs will also become major hotspots for housing growth.
Figure 3 - Current Land Release Areas
Due to limits from infrastructure and flood risks, new land release is still focused on the upper, middle, and lower sections of the Western District. According to the report, the rezoned areas are already enough to meet housing development needs for the short to medium term.
Figure 4 - Transport
Keep a close eye on a few of the new metro lines. One goes to Bankstown. Another starts from the city and goes through Burwood all the way to Parramatta. The last one starts at St Marys and goes for two or three stops (where new apartments will be built in the future) straight to the new airport.
Figure 5 - Coverage Area of Greater Sydney
These are the local councils currently covered by this planning blueprint. This means that when these councils make their own future plans or set up their LEPs (Local Environmental Plans), they will all be influenced by this report.
Figure 6 - Development Feasibility
This is a very interesting diagram from the report. It explains that after planning rules are loosened, the land that can be developed is only considered a "theoretical housing capacity." Whether that land actually turns into NEW homes depends on many other real-world factors. These include market selling prices, bank loans, construction costs, and the supply of infrastructure. This is likely why this new blueprint is targeting the Eastern District—the government probably feels that selling prices are higher there, making it easier for developers to make a profit.