Buildings in South Brisbane will be allowed to reach as high as those the city's CBD in a major departure from previous planning limits.
Brisbane City Council (BCC) said buildings in the Kurilpa precinct, near South Bank, will now reach 274 meters in some instances, slightly higher than the highest building in the city, the Brisbane Skytower.
The previous limit for buildings in the precinct, which stretches behind South Bank and along the river near West End, was between 15 and 30 storeys.
The change comes as part of the council's Brisbane Sustainable Growth Strategy, adding a supposed 10,000 dwellings to the housing market.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner told ABC Radio Brisbane that the new heights in South Brisbane would limit city sprawl and provide housing for young people.
"Density in the right areas can be the most sustainable form of growth," he said.
"We can create a precinct which I think could be our most sustainable community.
"It's got the train line, it's got the Metro coming, it's got the city glider, it's got multiple bridges. It's got great facilities, it is literally within walking distance of the CBD."
He said not every new build would be approved to reach the maximum height.
"Not every building goes to that height limit, even in the CBD. So there's always going to be a mix of different opportunities," he said.
He said industrial sites in the area would be "transitioned out".
The stretch along the river is currently home to a milk factory and a concrete plant.
"The milk factory in that prime location, I don't see it being there for the long term.
"I see that being a much better opportunity for parkland or new residential communities.
"When you see the writing on the wall that this area will transition. I think everyone will see, including the owners of the site, that this is not the best place for a milk factory, and that there are other more suitable and modern facilities that they can go to."
Precinct must be 'socially sustainable'
Mr Schrinner said changing the city plan would not happen overnight.
"It's going to happen in two stages. The first stage we're proposing is a temporary local planning instrument, which will effectively enable this to happen," he said.
"Temporary local planning instruments can last for one or two years.
"During that one or two years we'll go through the process of formally changing the Brisbane City Plan."
Mark Limb, an urban planner from QUT, said adding 10,000 new dwellings would be a big change for the area.
"I think that's going to be almost a tripling of that potential density through that area. So with that basically becomes a tripling of the demand on various services for the council," he said.
"So for road park, sewer, water, community services — all those sorts of things."
Dr Limb said the high level of public transport to the city from Kurilpa will be a good starting point, but the precinct must be "socially sustainable" as well as environmentally.
"I noticed that the mayor made comments about young people being able to live in this area and that's all well and good, but just rezoning is no guarantee of having affordable housing," he said.
"You could have 270 meters of really expensive luxury dwellings, which young people could never afford.
"Hopefully, they would be socially sustainable in that respect as well by trying to make sure there is some provision for affordable housing so that a diversity of people and workers can actually live in this in this area."
Mr Schrinner said the council was "certainly open" to ensuring affordable housing in the precinct, but the state government needed to make legislative change to keep it affordable.
"It is possible in theory to provide incentives for affordable housing, but there's no legislative mechanism available to us at the moment to ensure that it stays affordable," he said.
"So someone could pocket the incentive and then sell it on the private market."
He added that building more apartments to the market steadies and moderates price increases.
