This is the second of a series of episodes being led by the oldest friend of the podcast, Paul Smith.

Paul put it to Sam Stafford that debates about the planning system in England tend, for the most part, to focus solely on the planning system in England. Planners here very seldom look to other countries for inspiration and ideas.

Paul wanted to remedy that and so in this series he is chatting with planning professionals and academics from a number of countries to find out what works well there, what works less well, and what can be learnt.

This episodes considers planning in Australia and, specifically, Sydney.

This is a conversation that Paul recorded online in July 2025 with Melissa Neighbour.

The two of them talked about the politics of Sydney’s housing crisis, gentle density, the merits of a greater than local approach to planning and the benefits and disbenefits of zonal planning. That might all sound familiar to planners in England...

Some accompanying reading.

The New South Wales Strategic Planning Toolkit

A Metropolis of Three Cities: The Greater Sydney Region Plan

Some accompanying listening.

Music To Plan Towns To

Any other business.

50 Shades T-Shirts!

If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...

'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.

Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here.

Sam is on Bluesky and Instagram. His blog contains a link to his newsletter.