Universities and metropolitan strategic planning: the case of Sydney, Australia

Universities are increasingly identified by planning authorities as catalysts for urban change. At a local scale, planning policy often positions the development of university sites as a way to reconfigure the social, economic, and built characteristics of an area. At a city-wide scale, the development activities of universities emerge as central to wider metropolitan strategic ambitions. This is especially the case in cities, such as Sydney, Australia, where multiple universities are dispersed across the city. Increasingly universities have been identified in strategic planning policy as vital infrastructure able to influence the structure and function of the city. This paper reviews recent strategic planning processes in Sydney. Specifically, the paper reveals how universities emerge as central in pursuing global city status and economic performance, supporting existing centres and corridors, establishing new specialised centres and shaping a new urban spatial structure.