Mr Barr told estimates hearings on Friday that the appeal and popularity of laneways in Melbourne and Sydney was their scale, close proximity and walkability,

"One of the challenges for Canberra is we're trying to have a party in too many rooms and the scale of the city is as if was built for humans that were four metres tall," he said.

The government is redeveloping the lake between Commonwealth Avenue and the lake near the city, including apartments and commercial development, where Mr Barr said the aim was for easy walkability and a human scale.

The site is home to the much-criticised Westside container village, which was designed to bring life to the area as the government prepares to develop a new park and pavilion this year, then boardwalks, a reclamation of part of the lake, a swimming pool and commercial and residential buildings.

Meanwhile the head of the ACT Real Estate Institute, Ron Bell, joined the outspoken critics of the pop-up village, describing it as a "train wreck" and an eyesore for the national capital.

Mr Bell said it would do Canberra's reputation as a business destination no good. And while the government wanted the container village to bring people to the lake and showcase future development, the people likely to visit the pop-up site were not the kind of people able to afford an apartment in the eventual lakeside developments.

"It's a terrible mess to have on a major corridor in Canberra on a national capital," he said. "It's horrific. We can do much better than that."

Mr Bell urged the government to get on with "proper planning" for its City to the Lake project, designed to provide easy access across a lowered Parkes Way to the area.

Mr Bell said he had asked the question of Mr Barr at a post-budget breakfast, where Mr Barr had defended the pop-up village strongly and "

Also on Friday, Mr Barr said the government was looking for proposals on extending the existing convention centre as an alternative to building a new one.

Mr Barr said he had spoken with federal ministers Jamie Briggs and Joe Hockey about contributing funding for a national-scale centre on the prominent site near the head of Commonwealth Avenue. He would continue to push the case, but in

"Nothing in this world comes for free, there is no one, private sector and government, that is just going to magically make things happen for us, so the Commonwealth do have a role to play in my view," he said.

But recognising that would take time, he had "other irons in the fire in relation to upgrades of the existing centre or a willingness to hear proposals."

He wouldn't divuge more detail, saying proposals were commercial in confidence.