Two planning experts have come out swinging against the Greater Sydney Commission’s masterplan, saying the plan fails to counter the issues of the urban heat island effect and does little to mitigate road traffic.

Sydney University Associate Professor Glen Searle and Melbourne University Professor Emeritus Kevin O’Connor have written in the Urban Policy and Research journal that the masterplan, titled A Metropolis of Three Cities, exaggerates the projected economic activity of the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.

The paper says the vision of the Commission to create three cities in Sydney, Parramatta and Bradfield is flawed, and does not offer additional jobs and services in other areas away from the three CBDs, while the Metro West running from Parramatta to the eastern CBD should’ve been prioritised.

“Perhaps (the) biggest weakness (of the plan) is the large motorway program that is built into the strategy, especially in inner/middle suburbs,” the article reads.

“The potential for building Parramatta into a genuine second metropolitan CBD by prioritising new rail connections has not been adequately realised.”

Searle and O’Connor are concerned that although the NSW Government is trying to distribute jobs and amenities equally across Greater Sydney, the investment will be spread too thinly across the western parklands.

The pair also believed the Commission did not shed enough light on trying to mitigate issues of extreme heat in Western Sydney, with the plans failing to address issues of large houses covering nearly an entire block with minimal tree coverage. The article also asks why the Commission opted to develop in the west as opposed to the Hills District or on the Central Coast.

With Sydney’s international air traffic dropping by 10 percent in two decades and Sydney Airport remaining a competitor to its western counterpart, the article believes the projected amount of jobs and investment in the west will not reach the desired targets.

“Taking these factors into account, the scale and complexity (of the aerotropolis) are likely to fall well short of what has been envisaged as part of the strategy.”

The Greater Sydney Commission has been renamed the Greater Cities Commission since the report was released, and says the report looks to address the fact that 725,000 additional homes will be required in Greater Sydney by 2036. The plan is built on a vision where residents live approximately 30 minutes away from their jobs, education and health facilities.

To read the report in full, click here.

Jarrod Reedie

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