At a Glance
• Over 200 leaders attended the Future Cities – Campbelltown forum
• Strong message: Campbelltown welcomes density, but not without jobs and infrastructure
• Warning against “vertical sprawl”
• Call for coordinated planning and genuine local government partnership
• Commitment to next phase of community engagement

Future Cities – Campbelltown

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Committee for Sydney for organising and delivering the Future Cities – Campbelltown forum on Friday 19 May 2023.

The forum brought together more than 200 representatives from government agencies, ministerial offices and industry. The program featured panel discussions on connecting Campbelltown, community resilience, workplaces of the future and the creative economy, as well as a keynote address from the Hon. Paul Scully, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces.

While this was an independent event, the ideas and aspirations expressed during the day strongly complemented the views we heard earlier this year at our Our Shared Future forum. That alignment gives me confidence that Campbelltown’s strategic direction is not isolated — it is understood and shared more broadly.

We are now finalising the next stage of our engagement program, including a youth forum and community town hall meetings, as part of our commitment to authentic participation.

Welcoming Density — With Conditions

During the forum, I took the opportunity to address the room directly.

My message was clear: Campbelltown welcomes high-density growth. But housing density without supporting infrastructure and jobs is a form of “vertical sprawl”.

Dumping high-density development on us without supporting infrastructure, without supporting jobs, and without supporting funding is a form of "vertical sprawl".

We have experienced traditional sprawl on the urban fringe. We do not need a vertical version of the same problem.

Density alone does not make a city successful. It can just as easily produce social division, congestion and infrastructure strain as it can vibrancy and prosperity.

Learning from History

In my address, I reflected on a 1945 parliamentary speech by the Honourable James Concannon, who observed that Sydney’s natural beauty had been scarred by a lack of coordinated planning.

His words remain relevant. We are again at a moment of housing pressure, infrastructure demand and population growth.

Density is often presented as the inevitable answer. And in many respects, it is. As Premier Chris Minns has rightly observed, Sydney cannot continue expanding indefinitely on its outer fringe. We must build up.

But history reminds us that density carries risks.

Poorly executed density can lead to slum conditions, social exclusion or gentrification that displaces existing communities. It can also perpetuate long-standing cultural discomfort with apartment living — discomfort rooted in colonial urban ideology that viewed apartments as accommodation for the working class rather than a mainstream housing choice.

If we do not consciously address these assumptions, we risk repeating inherited planning errors.

Beyond Density Fetishism

In recent years, concerns about carbon emissions, housing affordability and infrastructure costs have produced what I described as a kind of “density fetishism” — an unquestioned belief that simply increasing housing density will solve our urban challenges.

It will not.

We must increase the density of everything — particularly jobs.

Campbelltown currently sees 62 percent of its workforce leave the city daily for employment. Among white-collar workers, that figure rises to 68 percent. That is not sustainable urban form. It is structural imbalance.

High-density housing without local employment opportunities simply increases commuting pressure, transport strain and social fragmentation.

Job density is the remedy.

We need high-order employment opportunities in our city centre — legal services, health, education, research, innovation and creative industries. Density of housing must be matched by density of opportunity.

Localism and Partnership

Campbelltown is ready to lead. We are prepared to test new ideas and work collaboratively with the NSW Government.

But local government must have a genuine seat at the table. Policies designed elsewhere and imposed uniformly rarely account for the specific conditions of place.

We deserve policies that are developed for us; policies that solve our problems.

We must resist the temptation to borrow wholesale from overseas planning models without adapting them to our context. Our history shows the risks of replicating London’s urban ideology without recognising the cultural and social differences of Australian cities.

Campbelltown is not resisting growth. Quite the opposite.

We are saying yes to urban consolidation. Yes to density. Yes to ambition.

But that yes must be accompanied by investment in transport, employment generation, public spaces and community infrastructure.

Campbelltown’s Role in Sydney’s Future

Campbelltown is prepared to become the capital of Macarthur — a fully functioning metropolitan centre within the Western Parkland City.

That requires:

• Coordinated infrastructure delivery
• Employment ecosystem development
• Balanced housing diversity
• Integrated transport connectivity
• Strong local decision-making

We are not asking to avoid growth. We are asking to shape it responsibly.

If Sydney is to avoid accumulating new “scars”, as Concannon warned decades ago, we must coordinate across all levels of government.

Campbelltown stands ready to contribute to solving Sydney’s housing and economic challenges — but it must be a shared endeavour.

Reflection

Urban growth is inevitable. Poorly managed growth is not.

Density without jobs creates vertical sprawl. Density with employment, infrastructure and community investment creates opportunity.

Campbelltown welcomes density. What we reject is imbalance.

If we work together — state and local government, industry and community — we can ensure that Campbelltown becomes not merely denser, but stronger, fairer and more prosperous.

Read the original Mayoral Minute here: 8. Future Cities - Campbelltown