The Committee for Adelaide has released the third in a series of 5-Point Plans that is intended to spark discussion, influence policy, catalyse action and drive positive outcomes for Adelaide, South Australia.

The Committee’s ‘5 Ideas to enhance Adelaide’s vibrancy and liveability’ looks at ways we can leverage our strengths and ensure Adelaide remains a welcoming, vibrant and appealing place to live, work and play.

The ideas align with our key pillar of ‘Dynamic Vibrancy’ and are generated from feedback and recommendations raised by our members and subject-matter experts at our thought-leadership conversations, workshops and surveys.

Click here to download the 5 ideas to enhance Adelaide’s vibrancy and liveability. 

Why is liveability and vibrancy so important?

Adelaide has long been regarded as one of the most liveable cities on earth and is currently ranked the 11^th most liveable city in the world by the Economist’s 2024 Global Liveability Index[i].

We are blessed with an enviable climate, pristine environment and have advantages in size, layout and open spaces. Our city punches above its weight in lifestyle and creativity, often acknowledged for our contemporary arts scene, world-class events and festivals, and great food and wine, attracting visitors from near and far. There is significant momentum to decarbonise across the state and diversify the economy, with strong growth and increased employment opportunities across several high-value industries including defence, health, education, resources, agriculture, advanced manufacturing and the green economy. But there is work to do to safeguard our long-held advantages of affordability, accessibility and liveability.

The World Economic Forum scores ‘city liveability’ on six factors: affordability, amenities, connectivity, culture, safety and sustainability.  These comprise interwoven features of urban living, including accessible public transport, employment opportunities, quality education, open green spaces, widespread recreational activities and health care[ii]. For urban areas, ‘liveability’ is a social, cultural and economic asset that boosts productivity, investibility and brand.

Indicators of ‘vibrancy’ can include culture and creativity, tourism, night-time economy, festival events and sporting life. Research shows that cities with a vibrant cultural scene are more desirable to live in, have greater economic stability, attract more visitors, talent and have a more diverse and educated workforce.

As outlined in the 2023 Benchmarking Adelaide Report, Adelaide is ranked 5^th out of 20 global peer cities for ‘liveability, affordability and wellbeing’ and 16^th for ‘amenity, vibrancy and experience.’ The report highlights that in order to be competitive, small and medium-sized cities, like Adelaide, must provide a range of exciting, convenient and easy-to-access amenities and experiences, for people of all ages, backgrounds and incomes.

To ensure Adelaide remains a welcoming, vibrant and appealing place to live, work and play, the Committee puts forward the following ideas:

1. Prioritise urban infill over urban sprawl.
2. Ensure Adelaide is an accessible, well-connected city.
3. Place art & culture at the centre of everything.
4. Make the most of our natural assets.
5. Prepare for and embrace growth.

The liveability and vibrancy of Adelaide goes hand-in-hand with ensuring our city remains an affordable and appealing place to live. With housing and cost-of-living challenges front of mind for government and industry, we are aiming to look at additional ways to ensure Adelaide remains its charm while preparing for and embracing growth.

Click here to read our Chief Executive Sam Dighton’s latest opinion piece Population growth and density done well.

1. Prioritise urban infill over urban sprawl.

While greenfield development has a role to play, greater urban infill and increased housing density in and around the CBD and across inner metropolitan Adelaide is critical to meeting the needs of Adelaide’s growing population.

Thoughtfully increasing housing density in Adelaide’s existing built-up areas will promote ‘living locally’, improve connection to place and enable more homes to be built close to existing infrastructure, public transport corridors, business precincts and supporting amenities like shops, health care, education and other community services.

Importantly, doing density well will create connected, convenient, cohesive and climate-smart communities, help to reduce Adelaide’s dependency on cars and encourage more active travel options, such as walking and cycling, to get around. This is essential, not optional, for Adelaide to continue to be one of the most liveable cities in the world.

Enabling mixed-used developments in select industrial zones within inner metropolitan areas such as Hindmarsh, Mile End, Glynde, Underdale, Kent Town and Keswick would unlock additional housing supply, while still maintaining areas for business and industry to flourish. As pointed out in the GARP, traditional industries will still require dedicated land areas near freight routes, but growth in cleaner and quieter sectors will enable more business and residential areas to happily co-exist.

Retaining and protecting areas of open space, heritage and character will always be important to strengthen Adelaide’s unique appeal and maintain our liveability. Maintaining the social licence for increased housing density across metropolitan Adelaide will also be essential if we’re to continue to meet and sustain growth for decades to come. This can be achieved through meaningful and responsive community engagement, flexible and outcome-orientated planning, and thoughtful and innovative design principles to deliver increased amenity and improved social, environmental and liveability outcomes for the local community.

2. Ensure Adelaide is an accessible, well-connected city.

As a growing metropolis, there is an ongoing need to ensure Adelaide is accessible and well-connected internationally, regionally and locally across all forms of transport. This includes prioritising an integrated transport infrastructure plan, with funding beyond election cycles and aligning with the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan, to make sure Adelaide’s transport system keeps up with population growth and demand.

This should include additional train links, ‘green’ bus and light rail corridors and services and safer cycling and walking routes support population growth. We also need to secure more direct international flights to better connect Adelaide to the world, while supporting business growth, investment attraction and the visitor economy.

With the State Government currently working on a new State Transport Strategy, planned for release in 2025, this must be accompanied with appropriate budgeting and financing to enable delivery of infrastructure improvements long-term. As pointed out in the recently released Greater Adelaide Regional Plan, integrated planning will enable “the timelier provision of services that communities expect and require for quality of life and help avoid previous pitfalls where development was not supported by adequate infrastructure planning and financing.” Put simply, we must ensure these plans don’t simply sit on a website or in a draw; they need to be actively funded and delivered to provide Adelaide with a more accessible, modern and efficient public transport system for generations to come.

3. Place art and culture at the centre of everything.

Adelaide needs a ‘Cultural Infrastructure Plan’ and supporting public and private investment fund to improve and maintain Adelaide’s existing cultural assets, events, festivals, facilities and institutions to ensure they are modern, accessible and fit-for-purpose. This includes addressing cultural storage and public access needs and making the most of and supporting our existing cultural institutions.

We need to make art accessible for all by integrating public art, culture and art experiences into buildings, infrastructure and public spaces, and we need to continue to respect and celebrate all forms of First Nations art and culture.

After all, Adelaide has a strong history in arts, culture and creativity that we should continue to celebrate and showcase to the world.

4. Make the most of our natural assets.

 Let’s invest in and protect Adelaide’s natural assets including parks, walking and cycling trails, beaches and open spaces to ensure they are high quality, inviting and encourage greater use and recreation. This can be supported by an increase in the rate base from inner-city densification (see idea #1).

This could include improving the water quality of the Torrens Lake (from the Weir to Frome Street Bridge) to enable additional water activities, continuing to enhance the Adelaide Park Lands to encourage more use and recreation and implementing more cafes, kiosks, art, nature play, lighting and amenities along the Linear Trail, all the way from Athelstone to West Beach.

We are often referred to as a ‘city in a park’ – let’s use that to our advantage.

5. Prepare for and embrace growth.

Lastly but by no means least, we must prepare for and embrace population growth and demographic changes. This means bringing the whole community along on the journey and making sure our city is well-equipped for population growth and can successfully cater for all ages, abilities and lifestyle needs.

This includes ensuring inclusive, accessible and age-friendly urban design principles are embedded across public spaces and infrastructure, greater mobility assistance and provisions for our ageing population, inclusive streets and recreational spaces, more places for young people to unplug from technology and connect with others, and actively engaging people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds in the design process.

Simple steps such as installing more street furniture for resting and pausing, ensuring wide, shady and levelled footpaths for improved movement, longer pedestrian crossing times, particularly across wide roads and streets, and integrated transport services will enable people of all ages and abilities to access community services, participate in social and cultural experiences, and feel welcome, included and respected.

Done right, and with continued ambition and collaboration across government, industry and the whole community, Adelaide will no doubt remain one of the world’s most vibrant and liveable cities for generations to come.

Read the Committee for Adelaide’s other 5 points plans:

• 5 Point Plan to Boost Productivity
• 5 Actions to Attract and Retain South Australia’s Future Workforce.

[i] https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/global-liveability-index-2024/

[ii] https://citypulse.patrizia.ag/insights/liveable-city