Planning Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide

There are currently five volumes in the Planning Strategy for South Australia:

  • The Planning Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide (December 2007)
  • The Planning Strategy for the Outer Metropolitan Adelaide Region (December 2007)
  • The Planning Strategy for Regional SA (January 2003, as amended at December 2007)
  • The Yorke Peninsula Regional Land Use Framework (December 2007) 
  • The Greater Mount Gambier Master Plan (February 2008)

For planning purposes, the Metropolitan Adelaide region is framed to the west by the sea, to the east and south by the Mount Lofty Ranges, and to the north by the Gawler River (and includes Gawler). The region contains the capital of the State, is the primary hub for business and government, and is the main gateway for trade and visitors. 

The Planning Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide (December 2007) provides direction from the State Government on land use and development in this region over the medium term (a period of 10-15 years). It provides a comprehensive framework to guide future development, and will inform further detailed work with local councils, industry and local residents.

In particular, the maps, policies and strategies contained in the Planning Strategy provide direction and a resource for metropolitan Councils undertaking strategic planning processes, including strategic management plans, Development Plan reviews and Development Plan Amendments.

Incorporated within the Planning Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide is the Urban Boundary (see Chapter 2, below).

Also contained within the Planning Strategy (Appendix 4) is the Residential Metropolitan Development Program, providing more detailed information about population projections and the availability of land for residential development. The RMDP provides a preferred sequencing plan for future residential growth within the urban boundary in the short-to-medium term. The Program allocates a sequence for development of Principal Residential Development Areas within six geographical sectors of the metropolitan area - the Outer North, Inner North, Inner West, Inner East, Inner South and Outer South.

The Planning Strategy should also be read in conjunction with the Industrial Land Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide.

December 2007 update

On 20 December 2007 the Planning Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide (August 2006) was updated to reflect the new urban boundary for metropolitan Adelaide adopted on that date. No other substantive changes were made to the volume. More information about the urban boundary and how it has been changed can be found by visiting our page titled Adelaide's urban boundary 

Documents for download 

The Planning Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide (December 2007) is available for download:

Complete document

Complete document - separate Text and Maps

Metropolitan Adelaide volume - segmented

COVER, FOREWORD, TABLE OF CONTENTS AND CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 is Introductory, outlining the role and purpose of the Strategy.

CHAPTER 2 - CONTEXT AND KEY DIRECTIONS

Chapter 2 outlines the Context and Key Directions of the Strategy. It includes a commitment to ecologically sustainable development, shows the urban boundary, outlines links between the Strategy and the objectives of South Australia's Strategic Plan, and includes a discussion on the implications for future development of population policy, ageing and changing demographics.

CHAPTER 3 - DETAILED POLICIES

The following policy topics are addressed in detail within Chapter 3 of the Planning Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide:

Metropolitan Wide Policies

  • Water Resources
  • Biodiversity
  • Open Space, Recreation and Sport
  • Land Use and Transport Integration
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Integrated Waste Management
  • Coastal, Estuarine and Marine Environments
  • Adelaide’s Hills Face
  • Culture, Heritage and the Arts
  • Education Facilities
  • Health and Community Services
  • Hazard Avoidance, Minimisation and Management

Residential and Urban Development

  • Central City
  • Activity Centres
  • Residential Neighbourhoods and Housing
  • Townships
  • Urban Design
  • Urban Regeneration

Business and Industry

  • Primary Industry
  • Employment and Business Focus Areas
  • Industrial Land
  • Specialised Activity Precincts
  • Commercial Uses
  • Tourism Facilities

CHAPTER 4 - IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING AND REVIEW
GLOSSARY AND APPENDICES

Highlights

Key policies in the Planning Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide include:

  • Affirming the use of an Urban Boundary, to contain Adelaide’s sprawl to the north and south, and containment boundaries for some townships outside the urban boundary
  • Protection of valuable primary industry land and the Mount Lofty Watershed from inappropriate development
  • Commitment to ecologically sustainable development, and in particular energy and water use efficiency and integrated waste management
  • Improving open space (including the Metropolitan Open Space System and the Coast Park), biodiversity corridors and coastal protection
  • Protection and supply of a suitable stock of serviced industrial land
  • Ensuring there is a ready supply of serviced residential land through the sequencing of land release for new development within metropolitan Adelaide (this sequence is contained in the Residential Metropolitan Development Program, at Appendix 4 of the Strategy). The Councils of Port Adelaide-Enfield, Charles Sturt, Onkaparinga, Playford and Gawler are identified as the key residential growth areas in metropolitan Adelaide and require significant infrastructure work; the Adelaide CBD area will also accommodate significant growth
  • Moves toward greater housing diversity to meet the changing needs of our population, particularly as the number of aged people increases, and the need for affordable housing grows
  • The need for desired character and policy guidelines to assist with regeneration initiatives in appropriate locations. Various north-western suburbs of Adelaide provide particular opportunities for urban regeneration
  • Strengthening the role of activity centres, including greater residential opportunities and mixed use development, to ensure better access to services, facilities and public transport (including transit-oriented development). Appropriate activity centres include the city centre, the five large regional centres (Elizabeth, Modbury/TTP, Port Adelaide, Noarlunga and Marion), as well as various district centres.

Further detail 

Urban Boundary

In 2002 the Government established a formal Urban Boundary to control the outward sprawl of Metropolitan Adelaide. The December 2007 update of the Planning Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide realigned the urban boundary to incorporate a further 2076 hectares of land within the boundary (for more information on that process visit our page titled Adelaide's urban boundary).

The Urban Boundary delineates the outer limit of desired urban growth within the metropolitan Adelaide area in order to:

  • protect valuable agricultural production areas, water catchments, open space and conservation zones outside the boundary from urban development
  • facilitate the efficient provision and use of infrastructure and services inside the boundary
  • minimise incursion of urban development into areas of high bushfire risk, unstable slopes and high visual amenity
  • facilitate the clustering of activities such as industry, educational facilities, community services, and retail and commercial developments
  • reduce the social disadvantage which can be caused through distance
  • reduce travel time and costs to and from employment, and
  • provide certainty to investors.

Some townships within the broader Metropolitan Adelaide planning area also have their own urban boundaries. These are detailed in the Planning Strategy for the Outer Metropolitan Adelaide Region.

Residential Metropolitan Development Program

The Residential Metropolitan Development Program (RMDP)(Appendix 4 to the Planning Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide) is a 58-page document with detailed mapping providing a preferred sequencing plan for future residential growth within the urban boundary in the short-to-medium term.

The Program allocates a sequence for development of Principal Residential Development Areas within six geographical sectors of the metropolitan area - the Outer North, Inner North, Inner West, Inner East, Inner South and Outer South. The proposed sequence is largely determined by infrastructure: whether there is a capacity within the existing services and facilities to meet the needs of new residential developments or whether the infrastructure can be readily and logically extended as required.

Councils and state agencies will need to incorporate infrastructure and service requirements into their strategic and development plans, informed by the RMDP.

The Councils of Port Adelaide-Enfield, Charles Sturt, Onkaparinga, Playford and Gawler are identified as the key residential growth areas in metropolitan Adelaide and require significant infrastructure work; the Adelaide CBD area will also accommodate significant growth.

Adelaide Metropolitan Spatial Framework

The planning process needs to produce a framework that is robust and flexible enough to accommodate and adapt to a range of future circumstances and future scenarios. The Planning Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide addresses this need through the Adelaide Metropolitan Spatial Framework, which appears at the end of Chapter 2 of the volume. 

The Adelaide Metropolitan Spatial Framework is a conceptual framework that has been designed to reflect the existing urban structure, but which can accommodate a range of population projections, and the possible resultant housing, employment and service needs.

The Framework continues and promotes the established cascade of Activity Centres within metropolitan Adelaide, from the Central City Activity Centre to five Regional Activity Centres (Elizabeth, Modbury/TTP, Port Adelaide, Noarlunga and Marion), numerous District Activity Centres, and smaller centres. In particular, the Framework features a potential for increased focus on transit-friendly development within Activity Centres, and appropriate targeted neighbourhoods and corridors/bands.

It is important to recognise that the Adelaide Metropolitan Spatial Framework is conceptual only and has a long-term (30 year) outlook. While it indicates the possible location of future development, change and refinement will occur through:

  • Negotiations with Local Government and consultation with communities, particularly in regard to location identification, projected impact on local character and required changes to development policy to facilitate any new development
  • Ongoing monitoring of the success and impacts of strategies for urban containment.