ARCH 9063 - Strategic Planning and Design

PLAN9063 | Strategic Planning and Design Assessment 2 | Group Component Student Ids

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PLAN9063 | Strategic Planning and Design

Summary A rapid increase in urbanisation has exacerbated enormous pressure on the capacity and growth of cities. This pressure exhibits a ripple e ect on all aspects of city making, ranging from strategic investments, optimum utilisation of resources, providing opportunities, accommodating a healthy to a happy lifestyle. Both top-down and bottom-up approaches are focussed to achieve the same through the means of a guided framework of strategies. The e ciency of the same is dependent on integration and coordination at both micro and macro level. The success of this strategic planning framework is supported on the pillars of di erent tiers of government. It further is based on transparency and translation of duties which makes everybody independent and clear for their actions. Hence, this report analyses Greater Sydney Region Plan and critiques the integration of the same at every level. It involves understanding the structure and aspects of the report at regional level by understanding the vision, objectives and directions. For the purpose of the report, the plan is accessed on the basis of one direction and examines its alignment horizontally and vertically.

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Table of Contents Introduction

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Methodology

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The GSRP & Governance

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Background

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Greater Sydney Region Plan (GSRP)

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Governance Framework

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Vision

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10 Directions & Objectives

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Productivity

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A well connected city

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Qualitative Analysis

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Integration and Quality

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Horizontal Integration

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Vertical Integration: The Relationship Between Regional and District Plans

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Vertical Internal Integration

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Integration surrounding regions

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Conclusions

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Project Management Statement

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References

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Appendix

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Introduction Since the beginning, Sydney has been described as an ‘accidental city’, characterised by opportunistic yet disjointed developments at strategic planning front (Ashton,1993). Within the turbulence of state, regional and local planning regimes, it has gone through endless reforms of planning, mastering and embracing the art of change. With time, this accidental 'city without a plan’ has taken shape, organically and inorganically to become what it is today; a city with many plans. Metropolis of three cities - Greater Sydney Regional plan is one such strategic trump card which is embedded in the many layers of history and the landscape of its urban fabric.

The Greater Sydney regional plan has been prepared by the Greater Sydney Commission which understands and respects the aboriginal country and builds on its ideology of the connection to ‘its country’. It envisions the concept of three cities- the Eastern Harbour City, the Central River City and the Western Parkland City - dwelling on the changed time and space of ‘saltwater country’, ‘muddy river country’ and ‘running water country’ (Introduction | Greater Sydney Commission, 2020). The plan establishes a 40- year vision, integrating land use, transport and infrastructure to manage growth and change. The aspiration of the plan lies in its vision of a 30minute city which is supported by the formation of its ten strategic directions for Sydney’s urban future in terms of its jobs, infrastructure , services , environment and its people. (Greater Sydney Commission, 2017)

This report aims to investigate and analyse the Greater Sydney Regional Plan by unpacking the various layers of its strategic planning at di erent scales. With a thorough analysis of this regional plan, the report emphasises the key components required for a cohesively well formulated strategic plan. The report undertakes a critical assessment of the plan to demonstrate its deliverability in terms of its performance measure and integration. This qualitative analysis of the plan is done through an exploration tool. The tool adopted in this report is one of the ten directions outlined in GSRP - “a well connected city”, which falls under its productivity theme.

Furthermore, a detailed analysis is done through the objectives underlined in the direction, namely; Objective 14,15,16 and 17.

The structure of the report follows a three tier format to test its deliverability. The rst part of the report gives an understanding of GSRP in terms of its background, governance framework and its key components highlighting the vision and selected direction. The second part of the report focuses on the critical assessment of the plan with respect to elements like performance measure, basis of evidence, stakeholders involved, consistently, accessibility and the governance hierarchy.

The third part of the plan pivots around the integration of GSRP- horizontally, vertically and internally. Horizontal integration is done with respect to the state plans like State infrastructure strategy and Transport Strategy 2056, whereas the vertical integration is understood by correlating Central district plan and Parramatta’s Community Strategic plan 2038.

The critical analysis of Greater Sydney regional plan, through the direction of a ‘well connected city’ exhibits a strategic plan which is highly consistent and integrated in its goals and objectives.

A fairly cohesive plan , focussed on a clear and succinct line of sight demonstrates the ease and accessibility for its people. Though the collaboration of government agencies and stakeholders is visible in the initial setting of objectives, gaps are seen between the di erent action priorities amongst the state agencies. The plan also seems a bit ambiguous in terms of its measurability and regional context which needs further clarity. Aspects like health, and wellbeing seems to form an underlying layer of the plan, often making the sustainability and liveability front a bit weak. The ability of a strategic plan to make a successful city lies in its ability to utilise the best of current fabric and critically look at the past mistakes. Metropolis of three cities might not be there yet, but it de nitely marks an exemplary rst step in achieving a bold vision for Sydney.

Methodology In order to conduct research for this report, only secondary data has been used due to closedown restrictions and guidelines for social distancing and isolation by the Australian government because of global pandemic Covid-19. The purpose of the report is to analyse and investigate the Greater Sydney Regional Plan: a Metropolis of Three Cities (GSRP), and to understand strategic

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planning at various scales. The report consists of three parts, studying and understanding the GSRP document and its governance structure, understanding the external and internal integration of the plan with other documents, and the quality of the plan in terms of vision, objectives and performance. The broadly studied documents are Greater Sydney Regional Plan (GSRP), Central City District Plan, Building Momentum State Infrastructure Strategy 2018-2038, Future Sydney 2056 – Greater Sydney Services and Infrastructure Plan and Future Transport 2056. As the GSRP is an elaborated document, in order to study the performance and integration of the plan, one of the ten directions listed in the report has been selected. The selected direction is – ‘A well connected city’, the rst direction under the theme ‘Productivity’.

The rst part of the report is the investigation of the GSRP and the governance structure by understanding the need for creation and implementation of the plan. The Greater Sydney Regional Plan is studied for its internal structure comprising the vision, directions, and key objectives. First the theme of the direction – ‘productivity’ listed in the GSRP documents is studied and the directions listed under the theme are considered to better understand the aim of creating a wellconnected city. The objectives stated under the direction are studied and the relationship between the vision for the GSRP and the objectives is noted. The study notes the evidence for the vision of a 30 minute city, by identifying components of GSRP through this investigation.

The second part of the report comprises studying the horizontal and vertical integration of GSRP. The vertical internal integration has been done by rst understanding the ten directions listed in the GSRP along within the four themes – infrastructure and collaboration, livability, productivity, and sustainability and then studying the hierarchy of elements (objectives, strategies, actions and measures) in chosen direction. The chosen direction is a part of the larger productivity theme, which is used to understand its role in the overall GSRP plan.

At the district level, there are ve plans for each district - North District Plan, South District Plan, Central City District Plan, Western City District Plan and Eastern District Plan which aim to achieve the ten directions listed within the GSRP along with the performance indicators to measure livability, sustainability, productivity and connectivity. To understand the vertical external integration of the GSRP, one out of the ve district plans – the ‘Central City District plan’ has been studied. Firstly, the legislation - the three tiers of government was studied to understand the hierarchy of planning policy pertaining to each level of government to comprehend the relationship between the regional and the district plan to understand the requirement at regional and district level. Implementation (Chapter 7) of the GSRP was studied to understand the hierarchy from State Environmental Planning Policy to Regional, District and Local Plans to appreciate the responsibility of each plan. The Ten Directions of the GSRP were referred to in terms of its objectives, strategies and actions, parallel to the planning priorities and actions listed in the Central City district plan to analyse the relationship and understand the extent of detail on the direction ‘a well-connected city’ in the district plan. Additionally, The Parramatta Community Strategic Plan of 2038 was also studied to elaborate on the relationship between the GSRP and a planned precinct/ growth area (Greater Parramatta Precinct) by analysing the e ect of regional plan at the local planning level.

The horizontal internal integration has been done by understanding the relationship between the GSRP and the surrounding regions - Central Coast, Hunter, Illawarra, South East and TableLands, Central West and Orana. The study was done by understanding the role of each of the surrounding regions in relation with the Greater Sydney region and understanding the importance of strengthening regional transport corridors, for example, a large number of Central coast residents travel to Greater Sydney Region for the purpose of work. Secondly, the document Future Transport 2056 was referred to, to understand the depth of transport corridors addressed for regional connectivity. The same has been done with the help of Objective 17 – ‘Regional connectivity is enhanced’ under the direction ‘A well connected city’.

To understand the horizontal external integration, the relationship and alignment between the GSRP is studied with parallel documents - ‘Building Momentum State Infrastructure Strategy 2018-2038’ and the ‘Future Sydney 2056 – Greater Sydney Services and Infrastructure Plan’ which support the goal of achieving the ten directions identi ed by Greater Sydney Commission.

Firstly, the three tiers of government were studied to understand the hierarchy of planning policy pertaining to each level of government and to understand the requirement at both Regional and

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State level. Further Chapter 7 of the GSRP was explored to comprehend the hierarchy from State Environmental Planning Policy to understand the responsibility of each plan. The Ten Directions of the GSRP were referred parallel to the planning priorities to analyse the relationship and understand the extent of detail on the direction ‘a well-connected city’ in Building Momentum State Infrastructure Strategy 2018-2038 and the Future Sydney 2056 – Greater Sydney Services and Infrastructure Plan.

The third part of the report analyses the GSRP on the basis of its quality against set parameters for assessing. The qualitative analysis has been done on the basis of the GSC documents and studied from the GSC interactive website and dashboard and the links and references provided in the end notes, which lists the sources of data collected, for example Australian Bureau of Statistics, Open data etc. Consideration of the stakeholders has been done through GSC online dashboard, by studying the e orts made to include community engagement and consideration for participation in the process of decision making. The dashboard also displays information of all the stakeholders involved along with their proposed strategy plans, their role and their work. The analysis for performance measurement has been done through studying the GSRP in detail and reviewing the parameters for measuring the indicators with each direction, and selected direction and has been linked back to the evidence. Consistency of the plan is done by studying the plan as a whole in terms of the information provided in the abstract, table of contents, and also by comparing what it says it’s trying to achieve and what it actually being achieved by the end of the plan. Accessibility of the plan is measured on the basis of ease of understanding to a layperson, interface of the website, the quality in terms of readability and ease to nd content and information in the plan.

The GSRP & Governance Background The evolution from Aboriginal lands to upcoming economic metropolis, Greater Sydney has experienced advancement in spheres of population growth, urbanisation and technology. The trajectory of growth dated since 20thcentury when the emphasis was put upon basic sanitation and living standards of the working class and hence led to the formation of the Royal Commission for the Improvement of the City of Sydney and its Suburbs. It was followed by the 1948 Country of Cumberland Plan which marks the migration of inner-city slums to west supported by the rail lines from present Eastern Harbour City establishing the rst green belt. The Post war era led to the formation of new centres along rail and road corridors within the metropolitan area under the 1968 Sydney Region Outline Plan. This plan emphasised upon the connections to Newcastle and Wollongong. It further had focus on areas which are under the present Central River and Western Parkland cities. Furthermore, the amendments in forms of four subsequent plans which came into picture from 1988-2014 envisioned around economic issues and the physical transformation directing towards polycentric city and urban renewal. These plans at di erent stages incorporated individual strategies such as collaboration with the transport network (1988 Plan), higher density developments, policies for the role of centres and the airport in Greater Sydney West (reinstated in 2014 Plan) which can all be seen translated together in the current Greater Sydney Region Plan (Appendix 1).

Greater Sydney Region Plan (GSRP) Greater Sydney today, is moving towards becoming a global city aiming to become an economic powerhouse capitalising on the Harbour, bushlands and natural beauties like beaches and Blue Mountain as assets. It holds great opportunities and potential for its people providing them with jobs, facilities and services within a 30-minute radius of their residence. As an e ort for a cohesive and collaborative approach to attain productivity, sustainability and liveability for the growing Sydney, Greater Sydney Commission as an independent funded body was formed by the NSW Government. The Greater Sydney Region Plan – A Metropolis of Three Cities is developed as a strategic plan with a vision encompassing transformation of three cities over the next 40 years along with a 20 years vision of ve district plans. The three cities under GSRP are the Western

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Governance Framework The Greater Sydney Region Plan directs the regional, district and local plans to achieve the set goal for 40year vision by developing a clear relationship at all tiers. The plan in alliance with Future Transport 2056 and State Infrastructure Strategy 2018-2038, integrates the land use, transport and infrastructure for the growth of Greater Sydney. It further breaks it down at di erent tiers for implementation (Appendix 3). The plan has been developed in line with section 3.3 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. The EP & A Act directed GSRP to advance by taking in consideration the reason of strategic planning in an area, developing the vision statement, followed by objectives and its action plans. It guided GSRP to proceed in coherence to economic, social and environmental concerns and nally outlined the structure for implementation of the strategies with monitoring at all stages. In terms of legislative requirements, A Plan for Growing Sydney 2014 was kept as a base however, there were gaps which were identi ed in the structure which required strengthening to overcome new challenges of the process of growth.

Furthermore, GSRP compliments the State environmental planning policies and Heritage Act 1977 as per the Australian and NSW government. The metropolitan planning of Greater Sydney Region led by Greater Sydney Commission is directed under the act called Greater Sydney Commission Act 2015 (Government, 2018). This act at the request of the Minister of Planning is responsible for engaging the community, councils, businesses and State agencies in order to maintain consistency and transparency all across. It led to the formation of the draft GSRP(Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

A key component of the plan is to ensure deliverables across all spatial levels with utmost e ciency and coordination. There were reforms made at planning level to include a legislative framework providing a clear line of sight de ning the deliverables at each level. As per EP&A Act 1979, the translation of changes happening at higher level should be well received and implemented at lower levels. The hierarchy of plans can be structured from GSRP to individual District Plans (Eastern, Central and Western City districts) which elaborates in detail their respective visions and objectives and further distributes it to the Local level (Appendix 4). Hence, Local strategic planning statement becomes a vital part of the structure. It further guides the Local Environmental Plans (LEP) and Development Control Plans (DCP). Also, LSPS is required to be in alliance with the Community Strategic plan prepared under the Local Government Act 1993 (Appendix 5)(Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

Vision The vision of the Greater Sydney Region Plan revolves around the polycentric cities. It envelopes three out of ve districts under Greater Sydney Commission. The overarching vision of GSRP aims towards 30minute city facilitating its residents with jobs, amenities, entertainment within that scope. The vision is structured to respond to the unique current and future growth challenges faced by these cities presently and over the next 40 years. These cities are identi ed as established (East), developing (Central) and emerging (West) and the vision and objectives are tailored as per respective requirements and projections. The overview of vision for the three cities are as follow:

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Parkland City, the Central River City and the Eastern Harbour City (Appendix 2). The vision takes in consideration the collaboration required between all tiers of government horizontally and vertically along with stakeholders and community. The plan is formed in harmony with the current settlement pattern, the projected growth and takes into account the geography of the place. It aims to restructure economic development in alignment with the infrastructure, growth and accessibility. In order to uphold its position in the list of top cities, the plan has envisioned the three cities to have metropolitan and strategic centres with inclusive range of facilities like knowledge-based jobs, cultural facilities, entertainment along with sync with Green Grid network nally contributing towards the broader goals of sustainability. The overall “one government” approach aims to keep the system transparent and have de ned roles and responsibilities for public interest.

Eastern Harbour City– the aim is to capitalise and strengthen the existing economic spine and re ne the needs more inclined to liveability and sustainability for future.

Central River City –the aim is to improve the quality of amenities in the area and conduct further investigation in the sphere of infrastructure taking in consideration the ood prone areas.

Western Parkland City –the aim is to make a de ned framework for the developments and investments in the area to help it emerge as a successful city. They also aim to work reducing the car's dominant nature in the area and extreme climatic impact(Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

10 Directions & Objectives GSRP in its vision states the aim of the 30minute city which they have envisioned to be followed in the de ned three cities by next 40 years. In order to achieve the same, they have clearly structured it as 10 directions which are broadly classi ed under four themes namely – Infrastructure and Collaboration, Productivity, Liveability and Sustainability.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND COLLABORATION The plan under this section addresses the importance and need to generate housing and employment in accordance with growth so that it does not impose pressure on infrastructural demands. The unplanned additional development ends up compromising on quality and a ects timely provision. This section also states that it is imperative to have a balance of essential services like education and health for the population. GSRP de nes when and where the growth across three cities should happen by identifying the Planned precincts and growth areas. In terms of Collaboration, Future Transport 2056 and State Infrastructure Strategy 2018-2038 comes into picture. The plan focuses on collective response from all tiers of government structure which helps in investments tailored to the need avoiding the unprecedented levels of growth.

LIVEABILITY The plan under this theme is focussed around the quality of life of residents. It is defined by the neighbourhood one resides and what it offers. In order to improve the liveability, GSRP plans to provide housing, employment and services to make people stay in their respective neighbourhoods. It further envisions improving the accessibility to these facilities which strengthens the community as a whole. It takes in account the proportional growth of population and migration, resulting in change of demographics which affects the local needs of people. The overarching vision of GSRP of a 30-minute city becomes a guide for prioritisation of these facilities and investments. It also encompasses the values of community contributing to culture and identity. The plan defines the need of place-based planning, urban design characteristics like streets, better connectivity within and between places, promoting walkability and cycling etc.

PRODUCTIVITY Greater Sydney as Australia's global economic gateway is counted amongst the top 20 and in order to embark a stronger footprint, productivity plays a vital part. The area has a strong advantage of Education – being second biggest exporter of higher education, Health – linked by the world class health precincts like Westmead, Randwick and presence of Royal Prince Alfred Hospitals and Tourism – having icons like Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge and World Heritage Area – Blue Mountains. Productivity as a theme is a great booster for the growth of Greater Sydney. This plan also takes into account the need for e ciency of the network of freight and logistics. GSRP’s vision of rebalancing of opportunities in these three cities by the means of a polycentric city is backed by this theme. It explains the disadvantages of monocentric areas and its impact on people. The integral part under this section covers the e cient public transport further strengthening the overarching vision of GSRP – 30minute city. It covers the structure of planning policies required to back the provision of business and services by strong transport connectivity.

SUSTAINABILITY This part of the plan caters to the landscape of the city by taking in account of diverse, beautiful features like coastlines, waterways, mountains etc. The aim of the plan is directed towards long

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term approach and aims in protection of biodiversity, bushlands, waterways, parks, reserves and environment. The four major landscape categories de ned under this section are Protected Natural Area, Metropolitan Rural Area, Urban Area and Coast and Harbours. The plan has goals to encompass measures for natural hazards like ooding, bush res, heatwaves and the impact of overall climatic changes – urban heat island e ect and pollution. The objectives for sustainability are incorporated in terms of policies, laws and regulations to achieve the long-term goals. The issues taken in account range from micro to macro scale of impact. The plan identi es potential areas to contribute towards environmental technology based upon energy, water and waste management(Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

GSRP under the umbrella of these four themes is in sync with 10 directions which are further supported by respective objectives (Appendix 6).

Productivity The Greater Sydney Commission (GSC) aims to achieve a Sydney that is an attractive and liveable city for its residents by 2056. This will not only help Sydney improve with respect to its development, but will also help maintain its standing amongst the top cities of the world. (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

For the purpose of this report, the focus is drawn towards the theme ‘Productivity’. It is integral to Greater Sydney Regional Plan (GSRP) as it takes the steps towards making the overarching goal of a ’30 minute city’ come true (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018). Under this theme, GSC argues that monocentric cities increase the cost of living, land value, environmental problems amongst others, while simultaneously emphasising on the solution - polycentric cities. Polycentric cities are cities of choices as they o er more opportunities, better growth, diversity and equity among many other bene ts (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

This is further strengthened by the overarching vision of a 30 minute city as it promotes a more cohesive growth of a city. Through this, all residents will have equal access to their daily needs and work through public transport. To achieve this, GSC realises that a hierarchy of centres is needed:

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The three cities - metropolitan centres and metropolitan clusters

34 Strategic centres

Local centres

Walkable neighbourhoods (Appendix 7)

Productivity also focuses on enhancing the current connections, and establishing new ones to make Sydney truly a competitive city within and around the world. Concurrently, it looks at new infrastructure possibilities which will further attract more business to Sydney. Hence, it becomes a backbone of introducing the concept of polycentric cities (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

‘Productivity’ has two directions under it - A well connected city & Jobs and Skills for the city. For this report an in-depth analysis and comprehension of the direction - ‘A well connected city’ - is carried out (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

A well connected city

This theme has four objectives stated under it. These four objectives aim at di erent tiers of development, but nally tie the whole of Greater Sydney into a well connected region. Each objective has been supported by its strategies, action plans and maps, which improve readability at every step (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS This objective is performed through the following three ways, which are in alignment with the 30 minute city vision: • Public transport to work

• Dwellings within 30 minute of a metropolitan or strategic centre

• Dwellings within 30 minutes of a metropolitan metre or cluster

(Dashboard: A well-connected city | Greater Sydney Commission, 2020)

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The method adopted is Network Capability Tool which calculates the 30 minute travel distance based on the public transport map. (Dashboard: A well-connected city | Greater Sydney Commission, 2020) OBJECTIVE 14 | A METROPOLIS OF THREE CITIES – INTEGRATED LAND USE AND TRANSPORT CREATES WALKABLE AND 30-MINUTE CITIES This objective highlights the main outcomes that are to be achieved out of it - 30 minute city, rebalance growth, a diverse economy etc. followed by the most important ways these outcomes will be achieved.

Most essential part of this objective is that it recognises that the development needs to happen concurrently with respect to land use, infrastructure and transport. It also emphasises on creating a hierarchy of 34 strategic centres which will be further supported by strengthened infrastructure corridors, and regional connectivity. It then talks about the transport connectivity and has recognised that it needs to adapt in the coming times to achieve 30 minute vision. This has been achieved through the directions outlined in Future Transport 2056 where it aims to create a hierarchy of transport networks to achieve the desired outcomes (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

OBJECTIVE 15 | THE EASTERN, GPOP AND WESTERN ECONOMIC CORRIDORS ARE BETTER CONNECTED AND MORE COMPETITIVE This objective talks about building on the existing economic corridors such as Eastern Economic Corridor and developing new ones like Western Economic Corridors. It also talks about building economic areas, like Greater Parramatta and Olympic Peninsula (GPOP), by bringing councils together and utilising the existing infrastructure. By developing such areas in accordance with strong transport connections it will attract numerous and a wide diversity of jobs. Through this approach Sydney will develop the central city to be an economic corridor with a high liveability quotient. A separate action plan has been outlined by GSC to address this economic centre’s growth and bring all the various councils and stakeholders together. Further, this objective recognises the need to strengthen the north south connections in Sydney (Western Economic Corridors) by simultaneously connecting them to the strong strategic centres which lie near them (Appendix 8). This objective also aims to strategise where the transport and infrastructure development should happen rst (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

OBJECTIVE 16 | FREIGHT AND LOGISTICS NETWORK IS COMPETITIVE AND EFFICIENT This objective speaks about Sydney’s trade routes. It recognises that Port Bay to Sydney Airport is its most important freight route which needs support. Identi cation and development of new routes will cater to taking the excessive stress o the existing ones, and a better management.

Development of the Western Sydney Airport will also aid towards achieving this goal. The objective further addresses that as a consequence of Sydney’s urban sprawl, trade is highly dependent on roadways. A more e cient freight network will eventually lead to a better economic outcome for the city (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

The objective then strategises the key moves that will have to be taken while maintaining the qualitative aspect of Sydney. It lays high importance on a responsive growth along these freight corridors, for instance making sure there is industrial use in the adjacent areas, or avoiding high density residential zoning along them due to the noise pollution. The nal strategy under this objective speaks about how this vision of well balanced freight corridors will be achieved (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

OBJECTIVE 17 | REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY IS ENHANCED The nal strategy under the chosen direction addresses Greater Sydney’s regional connectivity.

The objective envisions 40 years ahead, where areas such as Newcastle, Gosford, Wolloging, Port Kembala, and the three cities, have all become strong economic centres at their respective tiers.

To increase opportunities, encourage trade and economic growth, connections will have to develop north-south to tie everything back together (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018). .

The objective sheds light on the important role played by Western Parkland City as it will be the place of many connections converging together. For instance, it will be a meeting point for Western Sydney Freight Line, Western Sydney Airport and badgers Creek Aerotropolis. It also

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aims to investigate the consequence of these regional connections on the neighbouring areas (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

Qualitative Analysis USE OF EVIDENCE Greater Sydney Commission draws its data from open data sources accessible to everybody. For present demographics and targets to be achieved it gathers data from ABS. For the direction adopted in the report - ‘A well connected city’ GSC clearly states that the data collected for the purpose of this theme is from Future Transport 2056. GSRP also highlights all its resources in the endnote section of the document.

The data can be traced back to its source through the dashboard provided on GSC’s website. It gives the links of the data used to develop the freight corridors and public transport. All the data has been obtained from OpenData platform which is utilised by Transport for NSW. This data also showcases the surveys done until November 2019, which highlights the constant monitoring that has been taking place. ABS and OpenData are portals accessible via the internet, but the public may lack the knowledge about these sources and how to use and access them.

CONSIDERATION OF STAKEHOLDERS GSC was formed in 2016 to create a cohesive and well integrated Sydney for all. Since the beginning of this process they have consulted with over 7000 people at every stage. This has helped them develop a strategic plan for people. For instance, when the idea was rst conceptualised it was discussed with the community regarding their expectations. After the next six months the plan was put up for exhibition and feedback from the community (Greater Sydney Commission, 2017).

Constant consultations have been held with residents of Sydney. GSC has made it a point to include people of di erent cultures, ages and diverse backgrounds to understand the nature of a very culturally vibrant Sydney. Similarly, they engaged with stakeholders at various levels community groups that may be interested in the GSC process, the local business stakeholders, major companies involved and nally, the local councils (Greater Sydney Commission, 2017). In Arenstein’s Ladder, GSC has reached the stage of tokenism.

They have an engagement strategy on their website which informs about the strategy and measures they have been and will be adopting for engagement with the community. It also speaks about the six principles they have adopted while engaging with the community - respectful, collaborative, approachable, transparent, inclusive and evaluated. Bodies such as youth panels, citizens panels have been made to receive a metric on thematic objectives. Advertisements, websites, social media and newspapers are some of the modes that have been adopted to spread awareness to the community (Greater Sydney Commission, 2017) (Appendix 9).

APPROPRIATION OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES One of the main visions of GSRP is to achieve a place where its residents reside 30 minutes away from a strategic centre or a metropolitan centre. Even for the direction chosen in this report, the method adopted is measuring the percentage of dwelling within the 30 minute radius via public transport of the strategic and metropolitan centres.

The calculations are done by Network Capability Tool which is currently being developed by Transport for NSW. It maps out the time taken from residence to work using the public transport time table. It has a variation of a wait time of approximately 3 minutes which alters the outcome.

(Dashboard: A well-connected city | Greater Sydney Commission, 2020) Although this tool is still under development, the assumption for a wait time of 3 minutes has not been discussed. It also does not take into consideration the time taken to reach the public transport, this may impact the result quite a bit. Further, the time taken also doesn’t consider the time that the train or bus stops at every stop. The tool also doesn’t describe from where the 30 minute is being measured - from the edge of the strategic/metropolitan centre or within. A result of these assumptions may be that all the two cities of Central and Western achieve a similar result Page 11

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of approximately 67%, while eastern cities achieve 91%. (Dashboard: A well-connected city | Greater Sydney Commission, 2020) (Appendix 10) CONSISTENCY GSRP is a well structured document which has a clear structure. It rst outlines the main vision, followed by the themes and the ten objectives. It then jumps into each theme's objectives which are supported with strategies, action plans and graphical maps. Finally, the document brings all the strategies together through an implementation plan where it assigns responsibilities to each tier of governance and adopts an approach of collaborative approach. The plan then also addresses the need for monitoring and updating itself.

The structure of GSRP is easy to understand and follows a very simple order which is very clearly understood in the ten directions table. However, the vision itself is not highlighted in bold letters.

The overarching vision of the document has to be looked for in the vision page. But, the description under the vision section of the document is very clear and easy to understand. The document also lacks an introductory page of the four themes. What the four themes are exactly entail is only understood when each respective theme is reached. A quick glance at the directions table tells the strategies but does not describe the theme.

ACCESSIBILITY GSRP is simple in its approach and does not use planning jargon, which makes it very user friendly and easy to read for a resident of Sydney. This is one of the biggest strengths of this plan.

Similarly, with the help of a structured format its ideas are very clearly translated to the reader. For example, the content page is a very good guide for a person who needs to nd a very speci c topic (Appendix 11). Also for a better understanding, some of the strategies are supported by maps while others are supported by extra notes and action plans which are given in highlighted grey, orange or blue boxes. The report also makes very good use of infographics to keep the report a balanced vibrant but formal at the same time.

Similarly, accessing this document is also incredibly easy! It is the rst result that pops up on google. The website actually breaks down the whole plan in various tabs, giving the reader a glimpse of the vision. It once again uses the same infographics as in the report, which helps the reader connect the two mediums. The graphical usage also helps leave a mark on the mind of the reader. On the webpage of GSC, the dashboard informs the reader about the people behind the scenes, the data sources, the engagement strategy and more. The journey of GSC at a glance can be seen through their website.

Integration and Quality Horizontal Integration The quality of a regional plan in terms of its horizontal integration can be understood by analysing its ability to be embedded in the governance framework. As seen in Appendix 3, the framework adopted for the creation of Greater Sydney Regional plan (GSRP) follows the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (EPA&A) 1979 combined together with the Greater Sydney commission Act 2015. The GSRP is in accordance to the EPA&A Part3 division 3.1 section 3.3 clause 3(c), 3(d), 3(e) and 3(f) (highlighted in Appendix 12) where the sync between Infrastructure NSW, Department of Premier and Cabinet , the Department of Planning and Environment and the Greater Sydney Commission, connects policy and investment directions for business and community (Transport for NSW, 2018) (NSW legislation, 2020).

The metropolis of three cities or the GSRP is the rst regional plan to be developed by the Greater Sydney commission (GSC) which neither funds or builds infrastructure, rather it coordinates a whole-of-government approach , to prioritise right infrastructure growth at right places. Hence, the GSRP is prepared concurrently with the two state strategies, namely; Future transport 2056 and the State Infrastructure strategy (SIS) which aligns transport, land use and infrastructure outcomes together, to achieve its vision (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

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The State Infrastructure Strategy (SIS) is a 20 year vision plan which recommends reforms by its six cross sectional strategies to deliver an e ective infrastructure program. It provides the government with recommendations, to prioritise the infrastructure policy and investment to boost the economy (Infrastructure NSW, 2018). On the other hand, the Future transport strategy 2056 is a 40 year vision, outlining how land use and transport will work hand in hand to support the growth of Sydney (Transport for NSW, 2018). The three plans are correlated in a fashion, where the transport initiatives in the GSRP have all been sourced from Future transport 2056 and are supported by the recommendations framed in the State infrastructure strategy, to deliver integrated land use and transport outcomes (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018). While the SIS directly mentions the use of GSRP, Future Transport 2056 acknowledges the collaborative work with the GSC. The ten directions outlined in Greater Sydney regional plan are formed keeping in mind the Greater Sydney integrated land use and infrastructure decision making, for a cohesive and parallel governance. Appendix 3 demonstrates the framework adopted by the GSRP to form and conceptualise its 10 directions, in accordance with the State infrastructure strategy and the Future transport 2056. While the ‘setting’ or 'framing’ of the directions focusses on collaboration between the three state strategic plans, the gaps in the integration can be seen by the di erence in priorities for the selected direction.

Future transport 2056 uses the vision of GSRP as a metropolis of three cities as its guiding principle to plan, invest and deliver faster, convenient and reliable travel times to the strategic centres (Transport for NSW, 2018). The chapter 3 of this state strategy forms the core basis of the objective 14 of GSRP , where integrated networks of existing and future transport corridors are strategies, to achieve a 30 minute city. The 6 productivity outcomes of GSRP, also acknowledges the 12 transport outcomes outlined in the Future transport 2056 for Greater Sydney (Appendix 13). Furthermore, the objective 15 (to enhance connections between the three economic corridors) is well supported by a sustained and staged investment program of city-shaping, cityserving, centre-serving and strategic freight networks, planned by Transport NSW (Transport for NSW, 2018). It is acknowledged through detailed plans for existing and future proposals of transport corridors, to achieve the same. Whilst the Objective 14 and 15 showcases a high level of consistency and sync between the two plans, a blinded adoption of Future transport 2056 in GSRP without any justi cation is quite questionable. The multiple motorways network proposed in the Future transport 2056 fails to support GSRP’s outcome of people adopting public transport for a 30-minute city network (Planning Greater Sydney, 2020).

Moreover, this consistently becomes weak in the other two objectives which are less detailed and are insu ciently supported by the Future transport 2056. While GSRP recognises the importance of an e ective fright network with the ports and airports through its objective 16 but it fails to detail its strategies in a place speci c manner, as done by Future transport 2056. Similarly, the objective 17 for regional connectivity just focuses on the investigation of potential transport connections to Port Botany, Port Kembla and the Port of Newcastle , but does not integrate the ‘hub and spoke’ model developed in the future transport 2056 for integrated regional connectivity (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018) (Transport for NSW, 2018).

The state Infrastructure strategy (SIS) recognises and endorses the land use directions set out in Greater Sydney Regional Plan by providing recommendations to invest in the right infrastructure at the right time (Infrastructure NSW, 2018). It has a dedicated Geographical direction, catering to Sydney's vision to achieve a metropolis of three cities, which has been directed from the Future transport starter 2056, showcasing a high level of integration amongst the three plans. The plan supports the three city concept and provides appropriate and detailed recommendations for the various clusters, specially the central River and Western parkland city. The objective of GSRP to manage industrial lands for freight networks is coherent between these two plans but the priorities seem to be di erent for both. On one hand, SIS recommends on the need to update relevant planning instruments for coherent freight movement, GSRP focuses on the zoning and physicality of industrial and manufacturing lands. Similarly, the SIS cohesively incorporates and provides recommendations to achieve the regional connectivity to Illawarra-Shoalhaven, Central Coast and Newcastle, but it fails to get translated into the Greater Sydney Regional plan highlighting a one way approach and lack of integration.

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Vertical Integration: The Relationship Between Regional and District Plans When assessing the vertical integration of regional plans and district plans, both plans must correlate to promote consistency and uniformity in infrastructure development. As seen in Figure 1, regional plans must set out visions, objectives strategies and actions for the wider economic, social and environmental context whilst district plans must understand and respond to the objectives of the regional plan with planning priorities followed by actions relevant to planned precincts and growth areas of the speci c district. With this in mind, Greater Sydney Region Plan can be analysed in relation to the Central City District Plan where this section of the report will examine the ability of both plans to achieve the correlative outcomes set out in Figure 1, with a further investigation of the vertical integration of the three government tiers.

Figure 1: Structure and Relationship of Regional and District Plans (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

Figure 2: Roles of Planning Authorities in Greater Sydney (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

The GSRP sets out a 40-year vision to improve infrastructure on an economic, social and environmental basis, seeking to establish three cities within Greater Sydney with the idea of a “30minute city,” where residents will live within desired proximity to their work, education and essential services (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018). The GSRP conducts this vision on a regional level, balancing all districts into one plan to prioritise Greater Sydney’s Growth as one. On the other hand, the Central City District Plan sets out a 20-year plan that provides greater detail on the planning priorities pertaining to the local government areas of Blacktown, Cumberland, Parramatta and The Hills and outlines in greater detail on how the vision of the GSRP will be achieved. Mentioned in the vision statement of the GSRP was to “collaborate between all tiers of government” (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018), where the regional plan is set out as the framework plan to inform district plans and local government plans.

The ‘Ten Directions’ component of the GSRP is a critical element of the GSRP, setting out the ambition for the region whilst also providing an essential framework to the plan. Under these

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directions with the GSRP, objectives have been listed to support each control. These objectives often remain widely vague and open to interpretation based on each individual district. On the other hand, when reviewing the Central City District Plan more speci c planning priorities and actions have been devised pertaining to the LGA that it a ects. For example, under the direction of ‘a well-connected city,’ the GSRP lists Objectives 14 – 17, where Objectives 14 and 16 are consistent with the planning priorities of the district plan. These ambiguous objectives include the establishment of 30-minute cities through integrated land use and transport, and the creation of a competitive logistics and freight network. In response to these objectives, the district plan has set more explicit actions to achieve these ambitions including the responsibility of council and state agencies to plan transport and infrastructure corridors, improving the e ciency of logistics and freight handling, and preserving transport corridors such as the Western Sydney Freight Line, as seen in Figure 3.

A Well Connected City Greater Sydney Regional Plan (Regional)

Central City District Plan (District)

Objective

Strategy

Planning Priorities

Action

Objective 14: A Metropolis of Three Cities – Integrated land use and transport creates walkable 30 minute cities.

14.1 Integrate land use and transport plans to deliver the 30-minute city.

14.2 Investigate, plan and protect future transport and infrastructure corridors.

14.3 Support innovative approaches to the operation of business, educational and institutional establishments to improve the performance of the transport network.

C9 Delivering integrated land use and transport planning and a 30-minute city

Integrate land use and transport plans to deliver the 30-minute city.

Investigate, plan and protect future transport and infrastructure corridors.

Support innovative approaches to the operation of business, educational and institutional establishments to improve the performance of the transport network.

Objective 16: Freight and logistics network is competitive and e cient.

16.1 Manage the interfaces of industrial areas, trade gateways and intermodal facilities

16.2 Optimise the e ciency and e ectiveness of the freight handling and logistics

C9 Delivering integrated land use and transport planning and a 30-minute city

Optimise the e ciency and e ectiveness of the freight handling and logistics network

Protect transport corridors as appropriate, including the Western Sydney Freight Line, North South train link from Scho elds to Western Sydney Airport as well as the Outer Sydney Orbital and Bells Line of Road-Castlereagh connection

Figure 3: Table comparing the Greater Sydney Regional Plan to the Central City District Plan within the direction of ‘A Well Connected City’ (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018).

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Whilst the GSRP’s objectives and strategies focus on the broader regional context, referring to all three cities, it is evident that the district plan further elaborates on planning priorities and actions consistent to the regional plan within speci c planned precincts and growth areas. It is also important to note that both the GSRP and the Central City District Plan assist planning on a local level, advising local environmental plans and community strategic plans as seen in Figure 2. This is evident in Parramatta’s Community Strategic Plan of 2038 where the Greater Parramatta region is referred to as a key growth region (Parramatta City Council, 2013). Correlating to the ‘wellconnected city’ set out in the regional and district plan, the Community Strategic Plan has set out more speci c strategies to bene t local communities, focussing on the Regional Light Rail network passing through Parramatta, Local and Regional Ring Roads converging on Parramatta and the Pedestrian Access and Mobility Plan which is to improve pedestrian and cycling links.

Overall, the GSRP can be viewed as a document that frames and informs district and local plans by setting out the vision, objectives and strategies and actions. The Central City Plan focuses on planning priorities and actions per speci c relevant to the local government area of Blacktown, Cumberland, Parramatta and The Hills which are built upon the regional plan. The local government is required to analyse both plans to create local strategic planning statements, planning proposals, local environmental plans and when assessing new planning proposals. The aforementioned regional, district and local plans are all designed in regards to economic, social and environmental matters where there is a vertical integration of the three government tiers.

Vertical Internal Integration The document aims to transform the Greater Sydney region by focusing on the development of the Metropolitan of three cities: The Western Parkland City, the Central River City, and the Eastern Harbour City with the help of 10 directions. Each of these has been developed based on the existing shortcomings - to overcome it, and the current strengths - to further grow on for development. Internal Integration within the plan comprises analysing the vision of these three cities with the 10 directions for delivering and monitoring the plan. These 10 directions have been categorised into 4 major themes for the development of the region - Infrastructure and Collaboration, Livability, Productivity and Sustainability which are the basis for development for the local government. Each district plan contains visions and objects for these themes to further develop on.

Figure 4: Visions under each theme, for all the three cities, as per GSRP

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The direction - ‘A well-connected city’, plans to develop an accessible and walkable city by focusing on strengthening its di erent transport corridors, bene t from the land use around these corridors and attain a well-connected and accessible city. To achieve the goals of the chosen direction, Objectives 14, 15, 16 & 17, help in strengthening the di erent regional, inter district, and local connections within the city. Each objective comprises streamlined actions and strategies as steps to achieve the objective.

For instance, Objective 14, talks about creating walkable and 30-minute cities by integrated land use and transport planning. Strategies 14.1 & 14.2 support this by prioritising the investigation and planning to protect future transport and infrastructure corridors, and Strategy 14.3 supports and improves the performance of the transport network by including improved innovative approaches for education, institutions and business establishments. Objective 16, identi es the important freight and logistics network as per the document Future Transport 2056, and plans to capitalise on the land use and infrastructure aspect of this corridor. Both the strategies 16.1 & 16.2, plan to manage the interfaces of industrial areas, trade gateways and intermodal facilities and optimise the e ciency and e ectiveness of the freight handling and logistics network; and are in line with the objective.

Objective 15 of the plan is to strengthen the connectivity of Eastern, GPOP and Western economic corridors. The GSC acts as a link between the state and the local government, community and business for collaboration to deliver GPOP with a place-based approach. GPOP looks at wider opportunities for improving livability aspects of the place with maximising active transport and its amenities by collaboration with Land and Housing Corporation. The initial actions mentioned as Action 6&7 in the plan are to collaborate and deliver GPOP vision and to develop a growth infrastructure compact for GPOP to strengthen the strategic centre - GPOP of the GSR rst. Further, Strategy 15.1,15.2 & 15.3 support the delivery of the economic corridors by prioritising public transport to achieve 30-minute city objective along with co-locating health, education, social and community facilities in strategic centres along the economic corridors, prioritising transport investment to enhance accessibility to economic corridors between centres.

Overall, the direction identi es the areas, and is horizontally integrated with the document Future Transport 2056. It identi es city shaping, city serving and centre serving corridors and draws the objective aiming at the di erent hierarchies of transport network needed in the city. It can be said that the objective relates directly to the direction, and the strategies and actions de ne the route for development for the local government to follow and are well integrated.

Integration surrounding regions According to the GSRP, the combined population of the greater Sydney, Greater Newcastle and Wollongong would be 10 million by 2056. The direction - “Well connected city”, in the document explains ‘Objective 17 - to enhance the regional connectivity’, to achieve better connections and opportunities for people. A Metropolis of Three Cities caters to the needs of Greater Sydney and the region’s existing and upcoming growth and developmental challenges. The challenge to grow comes with growth pressure due to the unique geography of the region. The topography contains elements like waterways, national parks, ridges and ravines which are a physical constraint and hinder infrastructure developmental activities like construction of roads and rail networks, resulting in lack of accessibility for the area.

Greater Sydney along with its surrounding regions have economical connections based on the supply of goods and services, and business to business interactions. (GSRP) Greater Sydney region experiences a large workforce coming from Central Coast and Newcastle regions, while Wollongong provides tertiary educational opportunities to students. Improving regional transport connectivity not just supports economic development but with the multi-nuclei model of Metropolitan of three cities, connecting economic clusters with strong transport infrastructure developments giving options to people to choose the place to live and work. Sydney CBD being an internationally known economic hub, it's important to enhance regional connectivity to Greater Sydney.

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With existing strong and developing connections of East to West, long term plans in the document focus to improve North-South connections to the Illawarra, the Central Coast/ Greater Newcastle regions and Canberra and environs. For more opportunities. Regional transport connections aim to link the internationally important trade gateway establishing North-South connect with - Port of Newcastle, Port Botany and Port Kembla to support import and export of various products.

The Land-Use and Transport vision Greater Sydney Region by NSW Government is listed in Future Transport 2056 – aiming to make the transport system for people and goods to be comfortable and e cient. The three key corridors de ned as rst steps for di erent transport activities would be - City-shaping corridors (trunk corridors with services and infrastructure mass transit, express public transport, road networks), City-serving corridors (higher density corridors around metropolitan and strategic centres to provide high frequency access to cities), and Centre-serving corridors (active transport and local public transport). NorthConnex, a 9km M1 paci c motorway tunnel project, connecting Wahroonga to West pennant hills, establishes a strong connection. It will be the deepest and longest tunnel in the country and is expected to complete by mid-2020.

Even though the plan recognises the need to connect to neighbouring regions (Gosford – Central Coast, Newcastle – Hunter, Wollongong – Illawarra, Goulburn – South East and TableLands, Central West and Orana), for the purpose of better economic development and opportunities, but it lacks to incorporate the speci cs and direction, in the plan to achieve it. The regional plans of Illawara and Central coast contain goals and objectives to achieve inter-regional collaboration for strengthening the state as a whole, but this can be seen lacking in GSRP, as the development directions are focused as Sydney-centric and less State based.

Conclusions An Economic powerhouse of 4.7 million people, Greater Sydney region embraces the landscape of nature, its bushland and its people, to become Australia’s most global city, building on the metropolis of the three districts (Vision of A Metropolis of Three Cities | Greater Sydney Commission, 2020). Greater Sydney Regional plan showcases an indispensable opportunity to deliver this spatial ideology, weaving a plan which integrates infrastructure, economic growth and its people. Unpacking the strategic planning layers for testing the deliverability of GSRP, insightful re ection on the interdependence of components like governance, vision, goals, integration, scale and participation is clearly evident.

The formation of an independent city- scale planning commission, running parallel to the state and local interests marks an important step in the metropolitan legislature to achieve an iconic yet realistic future for Greater Sydney. The critical piece of a ’30-minute city’ bold vision with poly centric nodes of employment, economic and social corridors, also strengthens the proposed plan for a modular structure. The structure of plan showcases a high level of consistency in terms of its vision, themes, directions, objectives, actions and strategies.

GSRP demonstrates a fair quality of cohesiveness, with high consistency and a clear line of sight.

The simple approach and its accessibility is one of its biggest strengths, which dwells on a high level of research, use of evidence, stakeholder considerations and collaboration between di erent government bodies. Adopting the direction “A well connected city” as its explorational tool, the report also highlights some missed opportunities and lags, especially in terms of its measuring and monitoring, data used , integration with its regional context and assumption based performance measures. Whilst the regional plan clearly provides information about the sources of data used, the knowledge on how to use these sources may not be easy. The measuring of percentage of dwelling to check the deliverability of the plan may also be based on assumptions like metropolitan boundary and waiting time.

The relationship of greater Sydney region plan with other state strategies like Transport Strategy 2056 and The State Infrastructure strategy depicts a high level of collaboration and integration.

Whilst the framing of objectives is consistent amongst all the plans, the deliverability of priorities for the objectives related to freight network and regional connectivity seem to di er for transport, infrastructure and the regional plan. Though the plan recognises the need to connect to surrounding regions and context, ambiguity is seen where it needs re nement and clarity for a future direction. Vertically, GSRP, the central district plan and the Community strategic plan 2038

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follows uniformity and sync between the objectives , strategies, planning priorities and actions for ‘ a well connected city’. Furthermore, this relatability and consistency is an integral part of the internal integration of GSRP, which guides the local plans to follow the same.

Encompassing the attributes for a successful plan, Greater Sydney regional plan marks an impeccable step towards dealing with the current urban problems. But many questions still remain. The dominance of economic deliverability highlights an imbalance amongst the themes like sustainability and liveability. Ambiguity is seen, especially in the directions which are focussed on long term goals which might make it di cult to deliver its vision. The aspect of spatial equity has always been a concern for Sydney and a poly centric approach of three cities does try to tackle it. But rather than a third city like Western parkland, existing centres like Blacktown, Liverpool and Penrith may have been overlooked for a sheer spatial scale of development. The new way of governance and excellence in consistency still endures disparity in dealing with issues like health, resilience and wellbeing which gives scope for a better integrated strategic planning framework to mitigate such urban issues for the future.

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Project Management Statement PROJECT OVERVIEW This group report required us to demonstrate an understanding of the structure of a strategic plan through the analysis of integration and performance. Examining the Greater Sydney Regional Plan: A Metropolis of Three Cities, our team of 5 were to interpret the quality of the plan, conveying opinions based on existing evidence on the plan’s deliverability to determine the underlying question of whether the plan will be a success.

PROJECT APPROACH Initial meetings via Zoom consisted of requirements of the assessment, team brief, addressing areas of concern and confusion to guarantee a mutual understanding. Team charters were completed with an enquiry of each member’s strengths or weaknesses in skill within the context of report writing, gaging the possible contribution area. For a sense of uniformed understanding, prior to the allocation of tasks, the consensus was for everyone to collectively read all 4 plans, where feedback and directions were discussed in the second meeting. The allocation of tasks, deliberated e ectively in the second meeting, based upon initial skills recorded in the rst charter as well as one’s enthusiasm to complete a particular section of the assignment.

COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT Establishing ground rules in the initial meeting, it was mutually agreed to communicate via an online discussion group for the purpose of convenience. Thus, a WhatsApp group was organised for quick messaging between group members as well as the creation of a shared Google Document, communicating time frames through, issue logs, scheduled zoom meetings and notes sharing via the document. Team meetings via Zoom were scheduled every week, commencing week 7, allocating time for synchronous face-to-face interactions with quick responses, touching base on progress or issues per allocated task. Although unable to meet in person, our team was e ective in participating in online discussions, ultimately allowing us the ability to exchange information swiftly.

ISSUE MANAGEMENT Concerns in relation to the assignment were addressed in our issue log via the Google Document.

Matters raised by a member were to be attended by the rest of the team where solutions were to be sent alongside the concern. Alternatively, personal concerns were addressed within our online chat for quick responses. It was important for the team to set ground rules when resolving con ict issues including ensuring that each member had a chance to speak without interruption. Our team was able to avoid con ict situations by negotiating and compromising with one another when con icts of interests did begin to circulate.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT FLOW

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References Government, N., 2018. NSW legislation - Greater Sydney Commission Act 2015 No 57. [Online] Available at: https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/2015/57/part1/sec2 [Accessed 19 5 2020].

Greater Sydney Commission, 2018. Greater Sydney Region Plan: A Metropolis of Three Cities.

[Online] Available at: https://gsc-public-1.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/greater-sydney-regionplan-0618.pdf Greater.sydney. 2020. Dashboard: A Well-Connected City | Greater Sydney Commission. [online] Available at: <https://www.greater.sydney/dashboard/well-connected-city> [Accessed 18 May 2020].

Greater Sydney Commission, 2017. Engagement Strategy. Sydney.

Greatewr Sydney Commission, 2018. Percentage Of Dwellings Located Within 30 Minutes Of A Metropolitan Centre Or Cluster Using The Network Capability Tool (6–10Am) 2018. [image] Available at: <https://www.greater.sydney/dashboard/well-connected-city> [Accessed 19 May 2020].

Transport for NSW, 2018. Future Transport Strategy 2056. Sydney: NSW government.

Infrastructure NSW, 2018. Building Momentum State Infrastructure Strategy 2018-2038. Sydney: Infrastructure NSW.

Legislation.nsw.gov.au. 2020. NSW Legislation. [online] Available at: <https:// www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1979/203/part3/div3.1/sec3.3> [Accessed 21 May 2020].

ArchitectureAU. 2020. Planning Greater Sydney. [online] Available at: <https://architectureau.com/ articles/planning-greater-sydney/> [Accessed 21 May 2020].

Paul Ashton, The Accidental City: Planning Sydney Since 1788, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney 1993, p 12.

Greater.sydney. 2020. Introduction | Greater Sydney Commission. [online] Available at: <https:// www.greater.sydney/metropolis-of-three-cities/introduction> [Accessed 22 May 2020].

Greater Sydney Commission , 2018. Our Greater Sydney 2056: Central City District Plan. [Online] Available at: https://gsc-public-1.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/central-districtplan-0318_0.pdf Parramatta City Council , 2013. Parramatta 2038 Community Strategic Plan. [Online] Available at: https://www.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/sites/council/ les/inline- les/ Community%20Strategic%20Plan%202038.pdf

2020. [image] Available at: <https://www.greater.sydney/strategic-planning> [Accessed 20 May 2020].

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Appendix Appendix 1 (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018)

Appendix 2 (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018)

Appendix 3 (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018)

Appendix 4 (2020)

Appendix 5 (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018)

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Appendix 6 (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018)

Appendix 7 (Greater Sydney Commission, 2018)

Appendix 8 (Greater Sydney Commission, 2017) Appendix 9 (Greater Sydney Commission, 2017)

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Appendix 10 (Dashboard: A well-connected city | Greater Sydney Commission, 2020)

Appendix 11 (Greater Sydney Commission, 2017)

Appendix 12 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979(section 3.3): Content and preparation of Regional strategic plans. (NSW legislation, 2020)

Appendix 13 Alignment of outcomes for Transport strategy 2056 and Greater Sydney regional plan. (Greater Sydney Commission, 2017) (Transport for NSW, 2018).

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