Abstract: Recent metropolitan strategies for Australia’s cities promote a vision for the renewal of the ‘middle’ suburbs, where urban-design led regeneration will not only lead to vibrant, sustainable communities, but also contribute to meeting housing supply targets. At an abstract level, the arguments appear logical. However in the absence of detailed policy, effective governance structures and public funding, it can be anticipated that urban renewal will take place in an ad hoc way with little regard to neither housing affordability impacts nor the broader social, economic and environmental outcomes which may be delivered. A fragmented response is compounded by the fact that the actors involved are typically small-scale and local: to date, this is not the territory of the likes of Meriton or Lend Lease. This paper draws on interviews with local council staff and outlines a series of issues they consider important in shaping renewal in their middle-ring suburbs.