Adelaide has long benefited from good planning, good fortune, and a lifestyle that many cities envy. But the truth is, the next 25 years won’t look like the last 25.

By 2050, Greater Adelaide will be home to hundreds of thousands more people. Our climate will be hotter and more volatile. The way we work, move, and live will continue to shift rapidly. The choices we make now will shape whether Adelaide remains one of the world’s most liveable cities or quietly slips behind.

That’s why the Committee for Adelaide has launched ADL2050 – a long-term, community-informed vision to help guide the future of our city and state.

This isn’t another plan to sit on a shelf. It’s a call to think bigger, longer, and more collectively about the kind of Adelaide we want to become.

At the heart of this work is a simple idea: the future of Adelaide shouldn’t be decided by a few; it should be shaped by many.

We’re inviting all South Australians to be part of that conversation. What do you want Adelaide to look like in 2050? What should we protect, and what needs to change?
Have your say and help shape the vision.

Over the coming months, we will also partner with our members, some of Adelaide’s leading urban design and architecture firms, to host a series of workshops exploring five critical themes that will define our future.

JPE Design Studio will explore how we put art, culture and design at the centre of everything, not as an afterthought but as a defining feature of how Adelaide functions and feels.

Arup will host a session on what it takes to build an accessible, well-connected city. Because if people can’t move easily and affordably, opportunity remains out of reach.

Hames Sharley will guide a discussion on investing in and protecting Adelaide’s assets, from our Park Lands to our events and festivals, the very things that underpin our identity and economy.

Baukultur will lead a conversation on urban infill over urban sprawl, tackling one of the most contested and consequential issues facing our city. How do we grow without losing what we love about Adelaide?

And Woods Bagot will challenge us to prepare for change, to think seriously about climate resilience, economic transformation and how we future proof our city in an uncertain world.

These are not abstract themes. They are real, immediate questions that go to the heart of how we live.

Do we continue to expand outwards, or do we embrace density and do it well?
Do we remain a car-dependent city, or given the current fuel crisis is it time to ramp up electrification and active transport infrastructure?
Do we protect our defining natural, built or cultural assets or allow them to decline over time?
Do we treat art and culture as a seasonal attraction or embed it into the public realm and daily life?
Do we react to change, or plan for it?

As Sharon Mackay, Director at JPE Design Studio rightly points out, “This is an exercise in optimism and imagining the future we want to see for our city.”

“The design-led workshops will bring together a range of voices across government, industry and community, resulting in 50 actions for 2050,” she adds.

After all, Adelaide is at an inflection point. We have the advantage of scale, strong institutions, and a community that cares deeply about this place. We also have a State Government that has been voted in a second term, providing an opportunity for long-term decision making and investment.

But as a city, we also tend to be cautious – to debate, delay, and defer big decisions, often out of fear of change and community pushback.

The risk is not that we make the wrong decisions. It’s that we don’t make decisions at all.

ADL2050 is about breaking that pattern, stepping forward with confidence as a global city.

It’s about creating a shared vision and direction for the future of Adelaide that gives confidence to governments, industry, and the community to move forward, together.

Most importantly, it’s about ensuring that in 25 years’ time, we can look back and say we didn’t leave Adelaide’s future to chance. We designed it, intentionally, so that our children and their children can enjoy the best of Adelaide for generations to come. 

Click here for more information on how you can submit your ADL 2050 Vision.