Adelaide it’s time to grow smarter, not just bigger
As Adelaide prepares to grow from 1.5 million to 2.2 million people by 2051, the question is no longer whether the city should grow; it’s how it must grow.
For too long, Australia’s urban growth default has been sprawl. More land. More roads. More cars. And more people pushed out further from the jobs, services and social infrastructure on offer in the city centre.
In Adelaide, this model isn’t just unsustainable – it’s a direct threat to the city’s long-standing strengths: its connectedness, its lifestyle offering, its affordability and its character.
While greenfield development has a role to play, Adelaide must also densify – not everywhere, but in the right places, with the right vision and to the right standards.
To help address the current housing shortage and ensure a steady pipeline of mixed housing to sustain future population growth, Adelaide needs to smartly and strategically increase housing density in and around the CBD and across the inner metropolitan area.
As pointed out in the 2025 Benchmarking Adelaide Report, cities around the world – including Auckland and Austin – are proving that increased density, when done well, is a multiplier for prosperity.
It’s not about squeezing more people into smaller spaces. It’s about unlocking walkable neighbourhoods, diverse housing types, more efficient infrastructure, and vibrant precincts that draw in talent, capital and culture.
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Density done well enables shorter commutes, lower emissions, and more cohesive communities.
Increasing density doesn’t subtract from liveability – it enhances it, creating neighbourhoods that evolve, not unravel. Good density respects character and community and co-locates housing with green space, transit, retail, business and culture.
Fortunately for Adelaide, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We can learn from peer cities that have done this well.
Auckland, for example, overhauled outdated zoning rules, upzoned 75 per cent of its residential land, and doubled housing supply. House price inflation slowed, and younger and lower-income residents gained access to better-located homes.
In the United States, Austin has rolled out gentle density at speed by reducing minimum lot sizes, unlocking infill housing and enabling accessory dwelling units (granny flats), duplexes or triplexes on what were once single-lot parcels. Supply surged, rents stabilised, and walkable, mixed-use neighbourhoods began to flourish.
What do these cities have in common?
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They had a clear vision, an urgent need for more housing and a strong social license that density should benefit everyone. Neighbourhoods with enough customers to feel safe and welcoming at night, urban spaces integrated with nature and mixed-use precincts with atmosphere and street life to enable residents and businesses to co-exist.
Other examples include Barcelona’s ‘Superblocks’ concept which has transformed streets for pedestrians and cyclists, Portland in the US is an exemplary model of transit-orientated development, Fukuoka in Japan which has successfully densified both residential and commercial space across the city, and Singapore, which is home to six million people within a 700 square kilometre area and feels safe, spacious, clean and green.
While recent legislative changes to extend Adelaide’s growth boundary are one option to solve Adelaide’s housing puzzle, it should not be the only option. We must continue to aim higher, plan better and pursue innovative ways to enable more homes to be built in the inner-metro area where basic infrastructure and services already exist.
The state government’s Greater Adelaide Regional Plan provides us with a welcoming roadmap for housing, with key outcomes of South Australia’s Transport Strategy and the 20-Year State Infrastructure Strategy to ensure more integrated planning. But to meet the promise of a truly liveable, inclusive, and climate-resilient city, Adelaide must go further:
- Prioritise and scale infill housing. Deliver townhouses, duplexes and low-to-mid-rise apartments in inner-Adelaide at speed and scale to broaden housing choice and meet changing demographics.
- Make the public realm irresistible. Pair density with high-quality footpaths, parks, bike lanes and local amenities. Build for people and people will come.
- Capture and reinvest value. Use value uplift from development to fund infrastructure, public housing and community services – ensuring the benefits of growth are shared.
- Lock in affordability. Support inclusionary zoning and social housing delivery. Density without affordability is a ticking time bomb.
- Design for dignity. Avoid the cookie-cutter. Embrace place-based, community-driven planning. Density must reflect local character and create beauty, not just buildings.
The Future Living Code Amendment, recently adopted by the Minister for Planning, Nick Champion, is a good example of innovative planning that will help unlock greater density.
It introduces a new form of co-located housing that allows additional homes to be built in established suburbs of Unley, Walkerville, Campbelltown, Burnside, Prospect and Alexandrina, without impacting their existing character, heritage and streetscape. The result will mean increased housing diversity and more affordable homes in existing streets and suburbs, reducing the need for urban sprawl.
Adelaide can still be the compact, connected, liveable and climate-ready city that other places envy. But that future won’t happen by default. It requires bold choices and a shared commitment to grow smarter, not just bigger.
Sam Dighton is the Chief Executive of the Committee for Adelaide.
