The western suburbs continue to appeal to Sydneysiders chasing the dream of owning a house with a backyard.

Yet tribal divisions between the east and west remain, typified by Sydney's so-called "latte line", an imaginary border that roughly starts at Sydney Airport and travels diagonally north-west towards Parramatta and beyond.

Ensuring Sydney's future sustainability will depend on breaking this line.

Awais Piracha, an associate professor researching urban and regional development at Western Sydney University, said the line's main characteristic was its division of housing opportunities in the west and jobs in the northern parts.

"We have the jobs in the north and the east, the north-west — but the population is growing on the other side of the city," Dr Piracha said.

"For example, Mosman had applications for 17 new dwellings this year, Bankstown Council got tens of thousands of new applications."

Dr Piracha and colleague Dr Youqing Fan used Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016 census data to create a map showing jobs are not evenly distributed, with more jobs in the east and the north.

The location of jobs in metropolitan Sydney. ( Supplied )

For some families, it is worth sacrificing a shorter commute in order to have a house where they can bring up children.

Dulwich Hill resident Emily Prentice is not far off moving into her new house in Greenacre with her husband Ben and three-year-old daughter. Her husband will commute daily to Surry Hills.

The three-bedroom home with a big backyard cost $800,000 and reminds the Prentices of their childhoods in Queensland, where they ran around on big blocks of lands.

"I think we could probably afford to buy the equivalent unit that we're living in now in Dulwich Hill, but we just didn't see a future for our family living in an apartment," Ms Prentice said.

"We really wanted the yard for our daughter and [we] hope to have another kid at some stage, so for us there wasn't really any other option than finding somewhere affordable with that space."

'Culture is thriving in Western Sydney'

Auburn resident Rebekah Robertson said she did not buy into the belief there was no culture west of the "latte line".

As someone who commutes to Pyrmont for work, she believes the west's downfall is its transport infrastructure.

"Culture is thriving in Western Sydney," she said.

"I think any deficiency that Western Sydney has is because of the lack of infrastructure investment into the area. It's not to do with enterprise, not to do with industry, education or culture or desire."

She said the debate over Sydney's lockout laws overlooked what was happening out west, which was not impacted by the tighter regulations.

"It completely disregards the cultural venues in Western Sydney, including Riverside Parramatta which has just had a huge refurbishment, and the building of the Coliseum in Rooty Hill, as well as the thriving cultural life around clubs, pubs, libraries and galleries," she said.

The Sydney Coliseum will be a new cultural hub. ( Facebook: Sydney Coliseum )

David Rowe from the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University agreed.

"What we found is that there's a lot going on culturally away from the inner city," Professor Rowe said.

"The idea that it's an artistic and cultural wasteland as soon as you cross this notional line is not the case.

However, he said long-term, state-funded cultural institutions need to be placed in the west to nurture, build and sustain the arts community.

"We need to consider cultural infrastructure as we build up these apartments in Parramatta and in the south-west corridor, otherwise you're going to essentially create a dormitory area for much of the city, and they will need to travel significant distances for their culture which makes no sense," he said.

Breaking the 'latte line'

Dr Piracha said even if it people did not travel for art, they would continue to travel to white-collar jobs on the northern side [of the latte line], so two major solutions would be building closer to the city and making commutes faster.

To connect Western Sydney residents to their workplaces, Dr Fan said, it was paramount the four major hubs across the Sydney CBD, North Sydney, Macquarie and Parramatta were better connected.

"On average people in Sydney are travelling 82 minutes on their commute, 31 per cent of them more than two hours," he said.

"The first solution is connecting the south-west part of Sydney to the north-east, to connect the Macquarie Centre and Parramatta using a railway."

The Epping to Chatswood rail line was originally meant to extend to Parramatta, however the NSW Government announced in 2003 that the second portion's build would be deferred indefinitely.

'It's a lot more connected'

For some Sydneysiders, the west is not home, but it is still where they can reap lifestyle benefits.

Potts Point retiree Robbie Wilson lived in Cabramatta in the 1980s. Decades later, he travels to the west for his weekly grocery shopping, where he says it is cheaper and more diverse.

Robbie Wilson at Gima supermarket, where he shops weekly. ( ABC News: Mridula Amin )

His favourite supermarket is Gima, a Turkish business in Auburn where he can pick up kofte and high-quality spices.

"I love to buy fresh fruit and vegetables in Auburn. It's a lot cheaper, it's two-thirds of the cost as shopping in the eastern suburbs," he said.

"It's a lot more connected. I can go in and ask any of the women how to use the spices in dishes and they'll take the time to take me through recipes.

"It's great, I'd never get that in my local supermarket."

He said the divide between the east and west was due in part to city dwellers being insular.

"There's a bit of complacency," he said. "You can make a bit effort to explore the city you live in."