{"id":472764,"date":"2026-02-11T11:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/472764\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T11:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:50:13","slug":"plans-unveiled-for-australias-first-new-city-in-over-100-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/472764\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans unveiled for Australia’s first new city in over 100 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

American studio SOM<\/a> and Australian studio Hassell<\/a> have revealed plans for Bradfield City, a new, 114-hectare city in western Sydney<\/a>, which is set to include 10,000 homes, a university campus and a two-hectare park.<\/p>\n

Planned to be located beside the recently-completed Western Sydney International Airport<\/a>, the Bradfield City masterplan proposes an urban landscape roughly 50 kilometres west of Sydney’s central business district, conceptualised as “Sydney’s new urban heart”.<\/p>\n

The masterplan forms one of Australia’s largest urban development projects and, once complete, will be the country’s first major city built in over a century, according to SOM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"RenderSOM and Australian studio Hassell have revealed plans for Bradfield City in western Sydney<\/p>\n

Key aspects of the development will include the creation of 10,000 new homes, a 2.2-kilometre Green Loop park, a two-hectare Central Park and four major civic centres.<\/p>\n

SOM and Hassell<\/a> designed the proposal in collaboration with cultural design partners Djinjama<\/a> and COLA Studio<\/a> to be an “inclusive and climate-resilient” city shaped by indigenous connections to Country \u2013 a term used by First Nations peoples to refer to the lands, waters and skies.<\/p>\n

“To design a new city is both a rare opportunity and a profound responsibility,” senior associate principal at SOM Michael Powell said.<\/p>\n

“Bradfield City is a chance to shape a vision with Country and community, embedding resilience, sustainability, and innovation into every layer of the city.”<\/p>\n

\"RenderIt will include 10,000 new homes, green areas and four major civic centres<\/p>\n

At the centre of the development, the First Land Release, also known as Superlot 1, will encompass a 5.7-hectare site described by SOM as Bradfield City’s “civic heart”.<\/p>\n

This central area will be the proposal’s first stage and is set to contain 1,400 homes alongside a university campus, offices, retail space, a hotel and public space.<\/p>\n

Renders of the First Land Release depict a series of high-rise blocks situated along tree-lined streets and interspersed with expansive green areas.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Barangaroo<\/p>\n

RSHP transforms “Sydney’s back door into a new front door” with Barangaroo masterplan\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Complementing the city’s green areas, a timber pavilion will shelter a gathering space for the community beneath an interlocking timber structure and woven canopy.<\/p>\n

According to SOM, this pavilion design draws on the Aboriginal principle of “enoughness” or taking only what is needed, with the studios opting for low-carbon and high-performance materials.<\/p>\n

\"BradfieldThe First Land Release will contain 1,400 homes<\/p>\n

Other sustainability strategies include the use of passive design solutions, green roofs and solar panels throughout the city’s infrastructure to improve their environmental performance.<\/p>\n

“We set out to create a precinct where nature and urban life are intertwined, ensuring Bradfield City feels welcoming, sustainable and uniquely of its place,” principal at Hassell Kevin Lloyd said.<\/p>\n

\"GreenThe infrastructure will be paired with expansive green areas<\/p>\n

The Bradfield City development is being developed by developer Plenary<\/a> and has been backed by more than $1 billion in Australian public investment. Its first stage of development is planned to roll out over the next five years.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Australia, Cox Architecture and Hassell unveiled plans for the Brisbane Olympic Stadium, which is set to serve as the main venue for the 2032 games<\/a>, and RSHP completed the Barangaroo South masterplan in Sydney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The renders are courtesy of SOM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"American studio SOM and Australian studio Hassell have revealed plans for Bradfield City, a new, 114-hectare city in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,1020,460,134,125171,99417,61745,61746,61747,95052,670],"class_list":{"0":"post-472764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-cities","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-hassell","17":"tag-landscape-and-urbanism","18":"tag-sectionall","19":"tag-sectionarchitecture","20":"tag-sectionnews","21":"tag-skidmore-owings-merrill","22":"tag-sydney"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}