Greater Sydney Commission's Plan For Three Cities by 2040

Under a new plan headed by Lucy Turnbull, greater Sydney will be connected by three cities and two-thirds of Sydney residents will be able to commute to job and service centres within 30 minutes.

The plan, a collaborative effort between the NSW government’s transport and planning departments and the independent Greater Sydney Commission, sets out a 40-year vision for Sydney's three interconnected cities.

The Greater Sydney Commission on Monday revealed their 20-year plan for a sustainable future as Sydney continues to grow. The draft plan was designed to respond to Sydney’s expected eight million residents by 2056 by drawing a roadmap to achieve 725,000 new dwellings and generating 817,000 new jobs.

A show of "good collaboration in action", Transport Minister Andrew Constance released the government's 40-year transport plan,

Future Transport 2056.

"You cannot build these three cities without having appropriate mass transit connections," he said.
The three city concept was first established by the Aboriginal people, who saw Sydney as a land of three regions, "It's only taken us 230 years to catch up with a vision that our indigenous ancestors always had for this city,” Turnbull said.

Commissioner Lucy Turnbull said the plans were the first long-term land use and transport strategies to be developed both collaboratively and concurrently.

“The three cities vision is also at the heart of Future Transport 2056 and I’m delighted to see the close collaboration between our agencies bring this vision to life,” Turnbull said.
Linked by new public transport, the 

draft plan outlined how Sydney will use the airport as a catalyst to generate a diversity of jobs in the Western City and how its housing affordability will be improved aligned with local infrastructure across the city.

However, there was no confirmation of public transport plans linking to the city's second major airport in western Sydney.

[Related reading: NSW Announces Plans to Turn Western Sydney Airport into an ‘Aerotropolis’]

The plan also aims to deliver enhanced green grid and tree canopy cover and quality design to create great places, walkable communities and shared spaces.