Sydney is an international city with a vibrant culture, strong business and economic opportunities and a strong and diverse community.

Critically, however, Sydney’s infrastructure needs (in particular transport infrastructure to service both commuters and freight) have not kept pace with the rate of population growth in the Sydney basin area or with the needs and expectations of the community or industry. This trend is not only set to continue, but if we are to prepare adequately for the future, the ACEA Infrastructure Roundtable contends that Sydney should be planning now for the infrastructure required for a larger population target.

Sydney Towards Tomorrow has been developed to provide thought leadership, promote community debate and prompt more integrated and thorough planning, so that Sydney might live up to the vision of being the world’s most liveable city with a population of 10+ million by 2050. It has provided a forum for innovative thinkers from across a wide range of engineering and consulting firms to develop a plan for Sydney (the Newcastle/Sydney/ Wollongong conurbation) as the ‘City of Cities.’ The plan integrates sustainability into infrastructure planning to provide a robust strategy to respond to the challenges, which is flexible and adaptable to the uncertainty of the future while maintaining Sydney as a vibrant community.

Sydney Towards Tomorrow is intended to complement other plans such as the NSW Government’s Metropolitan Strategy (2005), City of Sydney’s Sustainable 2030 Plan (2008), Metropolitan Water Plan (2005), and a number of local government plans.

Sydney Towards Tomorrow identifies six key areas of priority that will help to address Sydney’s future infrastructure requirements. It advises and recommends the policy, planning and regulatory reforms required to help protect Sydney’s future growth and prosperity. Its strategic focus is on urban planning integration and transport infrastructure rather than providing a list of infrastructure priorities for Sydney.

The themes targeted in Sydney Towards Tomorrow include:
1. Sustainability;
2. Planning;
3. Attractive densities and land use mixes;
4. Funding;
5. Social issues; and
6. Governance.

These themes are highly interrelated and should be approached in an integrated manner.

To read more, please download a copy of the full report here.

Media Coverage

Please click on the links below to view/ listen to media coverage surrounding ACEA's Sydney Towards Tomorrow Report.

• BRW (November 12th-18th 2009)
• Channel 10 - 5.00 pm News Bulletin (23rd October 2009)
• Sydney Morning Herald (23rd October 2009)
• Australian Financial Review (23rd October 2009)
• Sydney Morning Herald (26th October 2009)