A Plan for Growing Sydney / Eastern City District Plan
Core idea
Centers and corridors strategy
Why it matters
Directs rapid growth
Description
The New South Wales government's metropolitan strategy for Sydney, issued as A Plan for Growing Sydney in 2014 and elaborated through the Greater Sydney Commission's district plans, including the Eastern City District Plan of 2018. It set out a centres-and-corridors structure to accommodate rapid population growth, concentrating jobs and housing around strategic centres, rail corridors and the emerging 'three cities' framework for the metropolis. Delivery was tied to major transport investments such as Sydney Metro.
Significance
The plan marks Australia's most developed attempt at institutionalised metropolitan governance, with the Greater Sydney Commission bridging state and local planning. Its polycentric 'three cities' reframing of Sydney has been influential internationally, while debates over housing targets, density and western Sydney equity have made it a touchstone for growth management in Anglophone metropolitan planning.
What shaped it
- Transit-oriented development (TOD) (1993)
- The compact city (1973-1990s)
- UN 2030 Agenda & Sustainable Development Goals (2015)
Plans it influenced
- Greater Sydney Region Plan – Metropolis of Three Cities (2018)
- Greater Parramatta and the Olympic Peninsula (GPOP) Vision (2016)
Sources
- https://apo.org.au/node/70556
- https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-04/eastern-city-district-plan.pdf