Six Cities Region
The Six Cities Region is an administrative megaregion in the state of New South Wales, Australia used in strategic and statutory land use planning strategies and regulation by the NSW Government. The region was announced in 2021 by former Premier Dominic Perrottet:[1] and formally introduced in 2022.[2] It represents a formalisation of a widely understood linear spatial relationship between Greater Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong. However, the Six Cities Region is not an area conceived of outside of urban planning discourse. It consists of the following sub-regions[3]
- Lower Hunter and Greater Newcastle City - consisting of the Cessnock, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Newcastle and Port Stephens local government areas
- Central Coast City - consisting of the Central Coast local government area
- Illawarra-Shoalhaven City - consisting of the Kiama, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven and Wollongong local government areas
- Western Parkland City - consisting of the Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Penrith and Wollondilly local government areas
- Central River City - consisting of the Blacktown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Parramatta, Cumberland, Georges River and The Hills local government areas
- Eastern Harbour City - consisting of the Bayside, Burwood, Canada Bay, Hornsby, Hunters Hill, Inner West, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove, Mosman, North Sydney, Northern Beaches, Randwick, Ryde, Strathfield, Sutherland, Sydney, Waverley, Willoughby and Woollahra local government areas
The Six Cities Region serves as a frame for regional planning in New South Wales, and broadly separates the metropolitan areas from the rural areas of the state. The Six Cities Region is governed in a strategic sense by the forthcoming Six Cities Region Plan, prepared in large part by the now-defunct Greater Cities Commission.[4] The plan is expected to be released in draft in 2024 by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.