Abstract: Small cities in Australia are typically home to growing populations and changing economies. Many of the issues central to the politics and planning of metropolitan Australia resonate here, yet these smaller cities also have their own tensions in planning and development. They are important spaces for exploring key planning concepts for the Twenty-First Century. The application of contemporary planning concepts to these cities is not simply a process of downscaling existing metropolitan models. Using the example of “20-minute” neighbourhoods, increased urban density and walkability metrics, (concepts drawn from, among others, metropolitan Portland, Oregon) this paper considers their application as planning concepts in Bendigo Australia. The paper considers the very real limitations to policy acceptance and suitability in locations where the metropolitan diseconomies of scale, including congestion and housing costs, are less evident and where scope for innovative niche development markets is limited. The paper reviews recent policy along with interviews with local planners to explore the attraction, success and limitations of ‘downscaling’ metropolitan planning concepts to smaller cities and the suitability of methods of enquiry that seek to understand assemblages of dynamic networks in framing planning problems and mobilizing and maintaining networks of support.