Specific sites are being targeted for denser housing developments around Adelaide, as the South Australian Government shelves plans for widespread re-zoning across inner-city suburban areas.

The move is part of the Government's 30-year plan for growing the greater Adelaide area.

The final plan released today also revised down population forecasts from 560,000 by 2040, to 545,000 by 2045.

In 2013, the Government controversially re-zoned major road corridors in inner metropolitan areas, to allow developments as high as six storeys.

It had planned on extending the zoning areas but today revealed a list of 12 individual sites, including the former Le Cornu site on Anzac Highway, it plans to re-zone instead.

The Planning Minister John Rau said there were already developers waiting in the wings.

"These are ready to go development opportunities now and we're keen to unlock them if we can get the process right," he said.

"They are all relatively large sites, they're not ordinary housing block-sized sites and they have a single owner.

"They represent an opportunity for development which is different from most landholdings close to the city."

He said the changes were not simply about height and would also include clauses to prevent any developments encroaching on neighbouring dwellings.

Consultation would be undertaken and the Government said it was hopeful the changes would be in place within months.

Mr Rau denied the Government was simply taking the path of least resistance, and said he was not convinced that pushing ahead with widespread re-zoning would lead to a surge in development.

"What we saw [in 2013] was some parts of those DPAs [development plan amendments] in a lot of change, for example Churchill Road, which sprung into activity," he said.

"But other parts have yet to actually take off."

Daniel Gannon from the Property Council said the proposed changes were at risk of picking "winners and losers".

"You might have a situation now where some developers, who are situated just next door, or across the road, are asking themselves why wasn't my property rezoned?" he said.

"What South Australia needs right now is demand, we don't have a supply problem in Adelaide, we have a demand challenge.

"Our population growth rate is trailing Victoria at a rate of almost four times.

"We can tinker with the supply levers, we can talk about re-zonings, but we have a major demand problem, we need more people to create jobs and grow our economy."

The South Australian Government wants to rezone the locations marked in red. ( Supplied: SA Government )

The final version of the 30-year plan stated the population of greater Adelaide was growing "but at a slower rate than anticipated in 2010", when the draft plan was released.

It puts that down to sluggish overseas immigration and the high rate of young people moving interstate to find work.

The revised projection of 545,000 people by 2045 would result in a total South Australian population of about 2 million people, requiring an estimated 248,000 additional houses.