South East Queensland (SEQ) is Australia’s fastest growing region. By 2026, its population is expected to grow by more than one million to around four million people.

The region covers 22,420 square kilometres, stretching 240 kilometres from Noosa in the north to Cooloongatta in the south, and 140 kilometres west to Toowoomba; it is governed by 11 city and regional councils.

SEQ’s population is heavily urbanised and is generally concentrated along the coast between Noosa and Cooloongatta.

The region’s growth will generate demand for 575,000 new dwellings and 425,000 new jobs, as well as supporting infrastructure and services. It will impose significant social, economic and environmental pressures on the region.

Rather than simply respond to it, the SEQ Regional Plan seeks to proactively manage this growth by setting residential population targets to help guide future infrastructure and service provision in the region.

An increased proportion of the region’s population will be accommodated in the Western Corridor, reducing pressure on the heavily populated coast.

The plan seeks to protect more than 80% of the region from urban development by, for example, allowing for an increase in density in appropriate locations in existing urban areas.

Of the new dwellings that will be required in SEQ by 2026, nearly half will be built in established urban areas (infill and redevelopment), the rest in suitable undeveloped (greenfield) sites.