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........

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