Urban Greening Strategy for metro Adelaide
Bringing people together to make a practical plan to increase tree canopy, cool the city and boost biodiversity.
For Adelaide’s urban environment to thrive, we need a roadmap for increasing tree canopy, cooling the city and boosting biodiversity.
The strategy brings together state agencies, metropolitan councils, nongovernment organisations, industry peak bodies, research institutions, Kaurna and the broader community to achieve a greener, more liveable city.
All sectors and public and private landowners across metropolitan Adelaide have an important role to play in greening our city.
By joining forces – having shared priorities and delivering complementary activities – we will grow our tree canopy, cool our city and boost biodiversity.
How is it being developed?
We are developing the Urban Greening Strategy for Metropolitan Adelaide in stages:
Current: Stage 3 – Public consultation on the draft
Consultation on the draft Urban Greening Strategy has now closed. It was open between 30 April and 28 June 2024. You can still read the draft strategy at the YourSAy website.
We have received outstanding interest from the metropolitan Adelaide community on the draft Urban Greening Strategy.
We want to give this feedback the attention it deserves to best position our city to increase tree canopy, cool the area and boost biodiversity with useful targets.
We have reassessed project timelines, and the final strategy is now expected to be ready by early-2025.
We thank those who spent time and effort providing their insights, which highlighted a high support rate for the strategy’s implementation to deliver a resilient and liveable Adelaide for all.
We will keep you informed about the strategy as it progresses.
Stage 2 – Drafting and stakeholder engagement: 2022-24We have carried out a cross-sector collaboration with a range of practitioners to help develop the strategy and determine how best to work together to implement it.
Read the Discussion Paper (PDF | 5.01MB), Greening Adelaide Leaders Event and Summit Report (PDF | 3MB ) and Development Sector Round Table Report (PDF | 1 MB) on the outcomes.
Cross-sector technical working groups were also set up on the topics of urban biodiversity, urban heat, tree canopy, policy and green open space to inform the strategy.
Stage 1 – Scoping and early engagement: 2021-22
We have undertaken a literature review, practitioner survey and early stakeholder engagement to better understand who is working on urban greening in metro Adelaide, what they are doing, the critical gaps and what kind of strategy would work best.
We are also building on recent consultation on this important topic, including the development of Green Adelaide's Regional Landscape Plan (PDF | 3.34 MB).
For further details, download the Stage 1: Scoping and Early Engagement Summary Report (PDF | 2.73 MB).
Background
Metropolitan Adelaide has almost 17% tree canopy cover, but this isn’t evenly distributed across our suburbs.
Tree canopy and other plants cool our city, provides mental and physical health benefits for our population, and provides homes for native animals.
Urban temperatures are predicted to increase, so it’s even more important that we grow a healthy and diverse urban forest to ensure that Adelaide stays liveable and cool.
Saving and increasing greenery relies on not just a love for trees and green spaces, but also legislation, policy, capacity-building and coordination to protect and enhance it. That is what this new strategy aims to do.
Everyone has a different, but important, role to play in greening our city.
