Greater Parramatta and the Olympic Peninsula (GPOP) Vision
Core idea
Polycentric western Sydney core
Why it matters
Rebalances Sydney’s geography
Description
The Greater Parramatta and the Olympic Peninsula (GPOP) Vision, published by the Greater Sydney Commission in 2016, framed the area from Parramatta to Sydney Olympic Park as the emerging 'central city' of metropolitan Sydney. Its key moves included intensifying Parramatta's CBD, repurposing the Olympic Park legacy precinct for mixed-use growth, and knitting the corridor together with light rail and the proposed Metro West line. The vision underpinned the Commission's later three-cities strategy for the metropolis.
Significance
GPOP is central to the most explicit attempt in Australian planning to rebalance a metropolis, shifting investment and identity westwards from Sydney's harbour CBD towards its demographic centre of gravity. It also illustrates the afterlife of event-led urbanism, converting the 2000 Olympics precinct into an ordinary piece of city, and has informed international debates on polycentric metropolitan governance.
What shaped it
- Transit-oriented development (TOD) (1993)
- The compact city (1973-1990s)
- The Just City (Fainstein) (2010)
Plans it influenced
- Greater Sydney Region Plan – Metropolis of Three Cities (2018)
- Western Sydney Aerotropolis Masterplan (2019–)
Sources
- https://gsc-public-1.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2016_10_31_gpop_vision.pdf
- https://www.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/vision/transforming-greater-parramatta-and-olympic-penin