Perth needs an urban planning revolution to revitalise suburban centres and stop the city's accelerating urban sprawl, State Opposition Leader Mark McGowan says.

In his first major policy announcement ahead of the 2017 state election, Mr McGowan used an address to the WA Local Government Association to unveil Labor's plan to create a network of metro hubs across the city.

"We need to have a revolution, a massive change, in how we plan our urban areas," he said.

"We need to have more infill with amenity, clever density, sustainable density near public open space, near public transport, close to shopping strips, density that creates its own employment."

He said he would seek to use to the Metropolitan Development Authority to work with councils to improve "precinct planning" of key areas.

He pointed to Rockingham and Joondalup as examples of planned suburban centres, elements of which could be rolled out to other areas.

"I can see activity centres, like these job creation centres, all around the metro area, in places like Morley, Mirrabooka, Ellenbrook, Murdoch, Warwick, Cockburn Central, and Stirling to name a few," he said.

"We need to start the conversation about sensible, vibrant communities with clever density.

"We need to create metro hubs in our suburbs and towns, not just in the Perth CBD."

He said "clever density" meant encouraging development that was appropriate and welcomed by the community, rather than development that was incongruous and divisive.

Labor wants to collaborate with local government to help councils rejuvenate suburban areas and "activate" town centres," he said.

Policy 'interesting but costings, details limited'

There were few specifics and no costings in the proposal, but local government representatives made it clear to the Opposition Leader that dollars and the detail must follow.

WALGA president Troy Pickard said the metro hub idea was an interesting concept, but would need to be backed with funding and action.

"I think to build a sustainable Perth for the future will require an investment by the State Government outside the Perth CBD," he said.

"The Perth CBD has an important role to play in the prosperity of our state. But indeed, so do the outlying city centres - your Joondalups, Midlands, Rockinghams and the like.

"They play important roles to ensure that we achieve some density, we achieve some employment opportunities, and we reduce some of the congestion that's currently occurring."

Cockburn Mayor Logan Howlett said for the metro hubs policy to work it needed to be clearly detailed, and must have the support of the state and federal governments, and the private sector.

"The investment required is beyond governments," he said.

"We understand and appreciate that, so it needs to have private sector partnerships and importantly bring the community with us at all times."

Mr McGowan said the details of the policy would be released in the lead-up to the state election in March 2017.

Government throws weight behind policy

The State Government welcomed the Opposition Leader's comments, casting them as a bipartisan endorsement of what the Government was already doing.

"It's exactly what's happening at the moment, right around the metropolitan area," Planning Minister John Day said.

"The only difference really, is that what the Opposition's calling hubs, are currently called activity centres and there's plenty of examples of those."

Mr Day said any attempt by the Opposition to cast the Government's major CBD projects as a sign of it neglecting the suburbs was wrong.

He said CBD projects were about economic benefits for the state and entire city.

"The reality is that we need to do both," he said.

"We need to ensure we have a capital city that is contemporary and will facilitate economic development ... and we need to encourage urban consolidation and infill projects in appropriate areas."