The Hunter's Greater Cities Commission representative says the region needs more "infill" housing to fix its residential crisis, and old-style terraces could be the answer.
City commissioner Matt Endacott said on Wednesday that the region was "awash" with underused land close to public transport but little had been done to support its development.
"We have more than 30 railway stations in the Lower Hunter," he said. "Some of these stations are surrounded by brownfield sites that could be helping us meet housing and job targets."
He said government agencies had identified few of these precincts to carry "any growth at all" in long-term planning strategies.
"This means we will continue to have an underutilised transport network while adding more cars to our roads as we continue to stretch our urban footprint.
"We have railway stations in our city moving less people a day than the average Uber driver. We need to start using what we've got much better, and this starts by making urban infill projects viable and attractive."
Urban infill typically involves building medium- and high-density residential development on underused land in existing suburbs.
Mr Endacott said small-scale projects, including terrace housing, would help.
"There is a place for greenfield development, there is a place for 20 storeys in Hunter Street, but there is also a place for medium-density, walkable growth in between.
"This looks like terrace housing, two up two down housing, the sort of diversity we saw a lot more of a century ago.
"This stuff isn't radical; it's not new. It's a return to some of the housing typologies we did away with after World War II.
"The type of homes, I might add, that are so sought after that they've become unaffordable."
He said suburbs such as Morisset, Cockle Creek, East Maitland, Kotara and Cardiff could accommodate more houses while enlivening their character.
Mr Endacott said the community had given up asking for many of the projects in the region's infrastructure backlog.
"As we head towards being a region of one million people, we cannot keep adding to that list without maximising the benefits of what we've already got," he said.
"There is no city of one million people that I'm aware of with empty buses trundling around at peak hour, commuter car parks empty on a Wednesday and an international airport almost inaccessible without a car.
"My message to all government agencies is simple: Step back and look at the Hunter as a major metropolitan area and prioritise the investments that protect our commute times, character and liveability."
