Debate has flared about how to protect industrial and urban services land in Sydney.
The great motivator, in leading the Greater Sydney Commission, is the faith that has been placed in our hands with the vital work of shaping the city for a liveable, productive and sustainable future. Identifying the challenges confronting Greater Sydney within these broad arcs, and planning the responses to them, is a privilege and one we take extremely seriously.
Our overarching thesis, the Metropolis of Three Cities, was adopted as NSW government policy in March 2018. Bringing that vision to life over the next 20 years requires us to bring a more detailed lens to the key issues. Protecting and enhancing the diversity of land uses is critical to city-making and so must clearly be one of our priorities going forward.
Where people will go to work in the future is critical to our thinking and fundamental in achieving the 30-minute city. From the Eastern Economic Corridor of the Harbour City, through the urban services and advanced manufacturing locations of the Central City to the emerging Western Sydney Aerotropolis where high tech jobs of the future – across defence, aeronautics, pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing are being attracted
The burning platform in thinking about keeping Greater Sydney functioning and successful is the limited available land for a range of employment uses, mixing technology, commercial, industrial and urban services. The places where we create things, make things, mend things and move things along.
Intensifying this land use is critical in a city where 80 per cent of the Greater Sydney region is non- urban; 50 per cent of it protected natural areas and more than 20 per cent metropolitan rural area.
Land zoned for industrial and urban services comprises only eight per cent of Greater Sydney’s urban spaces, yet provides 19 per cent of the metropolitan region’s jobs.
- See article by Tim Williams: Why we need to plan our cities for the jobs of the future
In the South District, it is 37 per cent, Central City District 35 per cent and in the Western City District 36 per cent of jobs.
It also plays a vital role in the sustainability and resilience of the city and presents perfect areas to locate infrastructure to support the circular economy and promote better water management and reuse along with waste management.
To this point and to draw from the commission’s thought leadership paper, A Metropolis that Works, existing neighbourhood areas seeing an uplift in residential densities will also require an uplift in the infrastructure required to support those new homes: enhanced sewerage and wastewater treatment plants, improved utility substations and depots for improved public transit.…underpinning the importance of ensuring the availability of land for non-speculative purposes across each of the three cities and throughout the metropolitan area.”
A changing city needs spaces that offer capacity for innovation, adaptability and resilience in preparing for future needs, opportunities and challenges including the digital economy and technological change.
Greater Sydney’s capacity to enhance its freight and logistics capabilities, both traditional and innovative, such as on-demand delivery, will need proximity to their markets and supply chain hubs.
Transport for NSW’s freight and ports plan indicates that planned residential and commercial developments are encroaching on key industrial freight-generating precincts and corridors, resulting in restricted access to key freight corridors and limited ability to meet future demand.
We can’t plan a city simply on the basis of allowing all land to be left to the “efficiencies” of the market and “highest and best financial use” or we’ll end up with, not with a city that works, but that is unworkable, with suburbs that are predominantly residential.
Industrial and urban services lands need to be safeguarded from competing pressures, especially residential
The commission first addressed the future of industrial and urban services lands with the release of the draft Greater Sydney Region Plan in October 2017, identifying that existing industrial and urban services land should be safeguarded from competing pressures, especially residential, to avoid outpricing these important city-making uses.
The extensive research underpinning our policy development, 10 industrial and employment lands based studies, is publicly available on the commission’s website and continues to be refined and supplemented by ongoing work with industry representatives and councils.
This is Greater Sydney-specific research and arguably unprecedented in its depth and local focus.
This is Greater Sydney-specific research and arguably unprecedented in its depth and local focus.
The commission engaged with tens of thousands of people during the exhibition of its draft strategic plans. This included several industry-focused roundtables and broader information sharing sessions attended by a diverse range of industry representatives.
Our research and our engagement very clearly tell us that the retention, growth
and enhancement of industrial and urban services land should reflect the needs of each of Greater Sydney’s three cities, and their local context.
It should provide land for a wide range of businesses that support the city’s productivity and integrated economy. Rather than drawing a line around traditional manufacturing as a “thing of the past” our work found the management of industrial and urban services land requires ongoing support and enhancement in response to changing industry needs, trends and new technologies.
Traditional manufacturing may continue its decline, but the $21 billion it contributes to the national economy and the jobs it provides are part of Greater Sydney’s balance.
Advanced manufacturing in a “made in Greater Sydney” environment will also need places to evolve. Having these lands across the whole metropolitan area is integral to delivering the 30-minute city.
The three-pronged approach the commission proposed in the draft Greater Sydney Region Plan, subsequently adopted as policy by government, simply urges caution and “no regrets”.
These lands, which represent only eight per cent of Greater Sydney’s urban area – itself only 20 per cent of the Greater Sydney region – need to be safeguarded from the pressures of speculation and land value uplift.
Quite simply, industrial and urban services land that is lost to residential redevelopment, cannot be recovered.
We need to be as progressive and strategic as possible in helping employment lands evolve – which will include “mixed” use in terms of training and education, start-ups, institutes, employee work day services and facilities.
But we need to think very carefully about allowing residential development into the mix that can fundamentally and irreversibly change the balance.
We are continuing to enhance the evidence base to understand the specific needs of the different areas of Greater Sydney through more studies and we are working closely with councils to review the data we are assembling.
This is an on-going challenge that will continue to evolve and one we remain committed to working with industry and councils to address, underpinned by strong Greater Sydney-based-and-focused evidence.
Lucy Turnbull AO, is chief commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission; Geoff Roberts is deputy chief commissioner and economic commissioner and Dr Sarah Hill is chief executive officer.
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