Residents of North Melbourne and Kensington have pleaded with Melbourne City Council not to turn their inner city suburbs into ‘‘another Gold Coast or Docklands’’.

The city’s planners say the so-called Arden-Macaulay precinct is an ‘‘underutilised area’’ that will one day accommodate the expanding central city.

Imagine this here? ... High-rises on Queensland's Gold Coast.

At a planning meeting tonight, councillors will vote on a proposed planning blueprint that will guide all future development in these areas.

The former industrial landscape in Kensington will make way for population growth of 3000 to 25,000, while the northern city’s population will soar from 5500 to 19,000, council planners say.