With 8176 residents per square kilometre, the City of Sydney is about 20 times more dense than the greater Sydney average and more than 2250 times the nation as a whole.

Of course, that’s before taking into account the daytime workers and night-time revellers who inflate that figure. But deputy mayor Jess Miller says that proactive and responsive planning “enables us to keep raising the bar on density”.

As the Emerald City enters a new phase, Miller told The Urban Developer that “simple and consistent planning principles” will enable more housing, greater vibrancy and an increased focus on pedestrian and outdoor lifestyle.

Since Miller was first elected in 2016, Sydney has gone through several waves of upheaval. The monorail was stripped and trams re-introduced, allowing the pedestrianisation of George Street, the city’s main thoroughfare.

Covid and technology have hammered the office market and hospitality sector, with declines in the number of entertainment businesses and spending. But the final call for the “lockout laws” in January this year means an end to the 3.30am swill, mandated plastic cups and per-person drink limits.

A photograph of a tram stop on George Street at Chinatown in Sydney.

▲ Sydney was home to one of the world’s largest tram networks until 1961.

Living, working and playing in Sydney has evolved during Miller’s decade on council. But a proactive planning philosophy means “the city’s been able to respond to curve balls in a way that has been quite opportunistic”.

Outdoor dining is prioritised in the culture and creative strategy, for example, and so Covid presented an opportunity to encourage permissive planning rather than restricting businesses.

The council’s starting point are the principles laid out by mayor Clover Moore, who has led the city’s planning for more than 20 years.

“I think the approach with Clover, and the kind of approach that I really share with her, is that you keep the principles really simple and consistent,” Miller says.

“Firstly, her financial management of the city is impeccable. We are not raising rates.

A photograph of Barangaroo under development.

▲ Developments such as Barangaroo have reformed the city’s skyline, as well as how Sydneysiders live, work and play.

“Having that really foundational financial strength has meant that we’ve been able to do some flagship capital works programs. That’s really important, and that’s something that you just can’t mess with.”

Transparency and sincere, open dialogue with all stakeholders “including residents, the property sector, businesses…and approaching things with creativity and care” are also important, she says

“Just constantly ask people and check in about what they want. And not: ‘what color should this building be? Do you want a pink slippery dip or a purple one?’, Miller says.

“It’s really about asking: ‘what matters to you and what causes you pain?’.

A photograph of the Sydney skyline from the Botanic Garden

▲ Open space and amenity are highly-valued by residents, and are enablers for density and development, according to Miller.

“And people consistently say that what they love about the city is trees and open space and parks. And low-cost activities, so cultural and social infrastructure, libraries, community centres, playing fields.”

A focus on amenity is fundamental to the council’s planning decisions, “because people trust that with the density comes amenity”, Miller says.

“So I think we probably don’t have as much pushback as you might see in places like or Chatswood or elsewhere. I think there’s a kind of trust that, if we can achieve density in this city, we do it very well.”

In concrete terms, that strategy and dialogue is manifesting in a more liveable city, supporting more residents and businesses. In March, the City of Sydney finalised an exhibition on new outdoor dining guidelines, supporting the expansion of temporary outdoor dining licences into a permanent way of life.

A photograph of diners outside the Opera House, looking at the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

▲ New planning rules may encourage a greater al fresco lifestyle for Sydney.

“The longer-term ambition is to change them from being ugly, concrete bollards to footpath extensions. So akin to what we’ve already done in Surry Hills, where we’ve extended the footpath,” Miller says.

“In some cases, that means swallowing up a couple of car parks, but it gives people the opportunity to use the footpath in the public area for dining. In some instances, for businesses, it can double their capacity.

“It’s been hugely successful in Surry Hills. Over the next 10 years, there’s $20 million going into making some of those treatments permanent.”

While consultation feedback has yet to be finalised, Miller is looking forward to exploring commercial appetite for co-investment into footpath extensions, and community feedback on which areas should be prioritised.

Nightlife predicted to pick up

The city has also prepared proposals to expand the Special Entertainment Precinct program to more than 20 zones.

The National Arts School and QTopia on Oxford Street, and the Powerhouse Museum at Ultimo, would be the focal points of new precincts to benefit from reduced red tape, longer trading hours, and more permissive noise regimes (as well as improved noise complaint handling processes).

The Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, the Hollywood Quarter at Surry Hills, and parts of the Rocks focusing on the Mercantile Hotel will also be allowed later hours.

“SEPs are not stupidly radical…we already have what’s been referred to as ‘the map of fun’,” Miller says.

“There were some big changes to the 2018 Late Night Development Control Plan. At the time, we realised that the lockouts didn’t apply to all of the city.”

A photograph of the Coca-Cola billboard in Kings Cross in Sydney

▲ Kings Cross is no longer the only party in town, as Sydney planning encourages other nightlife zones.

While Kings Cross still boasts a healthy nightlife scene, densification and gentrification have changed the nature and scale of entertainment in the precinct.

Instead of meeting under the Coca-Cola billboard, nighttime revellers have their pick of hospitality precincts including the CBD, Newtown and Enmore, Haymarket and Darling Harbour, and Surry Hills. The development of those areas has in part been guided by City of Sydney strategies.

“The special entertainment precincts are a formalisation or a harmonisation of the state government’s incentives for cutting licensing red tape, and incentives for live music, overlaid with our existing hours,” Miller says.

“So it’s not super radical in terms of people’s expectation of what happens, where and how late.

“But I think it’s a game changer in that it really sends a clear signal to businesses that if they want to support live music, if they want to trade later, that the government is making it as easy as they can for them to do so.”

Sydney can absorb e-bike boom

The most recent emergent phenomenon to brush up against the city’s planning strategy is the sudden uptick in e-bike use—Sydney is one of the heaviest users of the Lime rental service in the world.

The City of Sydney, which collates data from operators in its boundaries, says that shared e-bike trips have doubled every year, reaching 3.7 million in 2025. Miller jokingly says that 9 out of 10 emails she receives are now about e-bikes.

“They’re radically popular. I think one of the reasons they are ... is because we’ve got the infrastructure to support it,” Miller says, pointing to the massive expansion of separate bike paths under Clover Moore’s tenure.

A photograph of an e-bike rider in Sydney

▲ The council offers Rusty Rider courses for those new or returning to cycling.

Miller says that, while the council does not have the power to regulate bike users, the “heavy-handed rhetoric” coming from state government about “fines and licence plates, and seize and destroy” are not necessarily the right approach.

Instead, bicycle education should be emphasised. Younger users may not be aware of road rules and older users “may not be used to riding in the city, and they haven’t ridden a bike in 20 years”.

But, as with other waves of change, e-bikes can be incorporated into Sydney’s planning for the benefit of those who inhabit it.

“If you’re gonna build a generation of people who feel confident, able and willing to ride e-bikes and take public transport as their primary mode of [transportation]: well, that does a great job, in terms of decongesting and making the city work at scale.”

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