1783
Existing population
3650
15-year growth horizon (up to)
5.5%
Percentage of city growth
139.6
People per hectare
All figures COLLECTED BY THE CITY OF ADELAIDE from 2020–2024
The Whitmore Square Local Area has many loved attributes which will be retained and built on to support its growth potential. Improved connections to the Adelaide Central Market and the Adelaide Park Lands will connect the area with opportunities in the wider city.
Future investment opportunities
Invest in public transport and pedestrian connectivity in the local area for people to access local services and businesses.
Deliver and leverage the Gouger Street upgrade to create a vibrant, cultural main street that supports the day, evening and night time economies and reinforces the strong sense of culture and community.
Support medium density infill development, adding to the housing and population diversity of the area.
Invest in streetscape quality, greening and activation in Morphett Street, Sturt Street and Whitmore Square / Iparrityi while ensuring consistency with the National Heritage Management Plan for the Adelaide Park Lands and City Layout.
Identify opportunities to provide a local level (at least 250-300 sq m) community centre to serve the needs of the south and south-west of the city, located in the local area of West Terrace, King William Street, Grote Gateway or Whitmore Square.
Review opportunities for an indoor sports centre to meet the needs of the south and north-west of the city, located in local area of West Terrace, West End, King William Street, Grote Gateway, Wakefield Gateway, Hutt Street or Whitmore Square.
Place Principles
The place principles for the local area are:
- Support the growth potential of this local area by protecting and encouraging new local services and retail amenities, particularly towards the western edge.
- Protect existing land uses that play an important role in contributing to the character and vibrancy of the area. Maintain small shopfront character and limiting the large tenancy spaces within larger developments.
- Minimise land use conflicts by designing to ensure that residential uses can co-exist with supporting commercial and leisure functions.
- Support the redevelopment of the Salvation Army site on Whitmore Square into a mixed-use development that meets the needs of Salvation Army clients and the broader community combining housing with social infrastructure, commercial and retail uses.
- Diversify housing supply by converting vacant or underutilised space above ground floor shops or small offices (shop top housing), repurposing existing structures, and revitalising heritage and character buildings through innovative adaptive reuse.
- Support mixed use developments incorporating medium density housing and appropriate services to encourage and support population diversity.
- Facilitate the development of strategic places using contextual analysis to ensure the siting, scale and mass of the built form addresses interface issues and respects the surrounding historic residential areas, including architectural and landscape features.
- Investigate applying the Planning and Design Code’s Historic Area Overlay to key heritage sites within the local area.
- Support pop-up activities for festivals and, events throughout the year.
- Improve connections into the Adelaide Park Lands, activate Whitmore Square / Enhance activation of Whitmore Square / Iparrityi and increase social infrastructure to better support vulnerable members of the community who access services and spend time in the local area.
- Strengthen the neighbourhood identity by providing more supporting cultural infrastructure.
- Increase street greening while ensuring consistency with the National Heritage Management Plan for the Adelaide Park Lands and City Layout.
- Investigate opportunities to support public transport to increase connectivity to other areas of the city, including use of the City Connector bus services and tram connectivity.
- Improve north-south crossings for people walking, wheeling and cycling.