Adelaide is undergoing a metamorphosis.

For generations, the CBD was a place where people clocked on and off – a metropolis that served as the central hub of productivity that was characterised by expanding offices.

The pandemic has flipped that on its head by emptying a decent chunk of offices, with workers now working remotely from their homes.

Surveys have shown us that 75 per cent of city employers allow them to do so, and 20 per cent of staff don’t want to ever return to the city sites full-time.

Pleasingly though, Adelaide has experienced less disruption than eastern capitals following their most dramatic COVID-19 experience.

We’re still facing a coalescence of challenges including a shortage of affordable places for people to live, a downturn in bricks-and-mortar spending, and a skills shortage to boot.

Recognising the seismic shifts occurring allows us to think creatively. Mapping a different future requires bold, visionary planning on our part – not more of business as usual.

Otherwise, we risk our city falling into an urban doom loop, a cycle where fewer workers in the CBD leads to a self-fulfilling downward spiral.

If you’ve been watching from the gallery or our YouTube channel, you’d have seen council staff and elected members thrashing around ideas for Adelaide’s City Plan.

Simply put, the City Plan is an urban design and planning tool that gives us a roadmap for how our city can accommodate and support as many as 50,000 city residents.

Now, as soon as you start talking about doubling our city’s population by 2036, there are visions of bulldozers and vast apartment buildings.

But population growth isn’t about building more high-rise apartment towers. It’s about ensuring density is evenly spread across the city and contemplating how density can be achieved.

Cities are more than just offices. They are continual works in progress that adapt and move with the times.

The occupancy levels influence the building envelope required. If we have fewer single person units, such as those designed for student accommodation, and more stock suited to couples or families, we could attain population growth with lower heights.

The city’s West End is going to be home to more than 4000 new residents over the next four years as projects such as Market Square, the Franklin Street bus station development and others get underway.

I am regularly told by my neighbours that the West End is desperately in need of residential amenities such as a community centre, veggie patch or tool library that could support these new residents.

We should be enticing people to move across the city by creating walkable village precincts which allow residents to live near butchers, grocers, and shoe repairers, as well as community amenities such as veggie gardens, meeting rooms and men’s sheds.

The State Government and the council have recently earmarked $500,000 to support the conversion of above-shop spaces into affordable apartments in the CBD.

This would not just alleviate housing pressures but breathe life into the city. It also allows us to be creative with our iconic buildings, not just undertake more façadism.

Cities are more than just offices. They are continual works in progress that adapt and move with the times.

This week, we’ll begin consulting key stakeholders about how our city looks and feels into the future.

Adelaide doesn’t need to be a victim of changing conditions. The City Plan gives us the opportunity to control the narrative of the city’s future.

Jane Lomax-Smith is the Lord Mayor of Adelaide.