The South Bank arbour and beach will be protected under a new vision for the 42-hectare precinct, which attracted about 14 million visitors last year.
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The Queensland government and South Bank Corporation have announced a new master plan for South Bank - a decision that coincides with the 30th anniversary of Brisbane hosting World Expo '88.
South Bank is a legacy of the expo, which transformed the industrial riverfront in the inner city.
State Development Minister Cameron Dick said the new vision was about planning for what South Bank would look and feel like over the next 30 years.
"This is about rejuvenating an iconic part of Queensland while respecting the South Bank that Queenslanders know and love," he said.
Mr Dick said some parts of South Bank, such as the Piazza, were 30 years old.
"If you've got assets that are that old, you've got to look at their useful life and will they continue in that form or will we have a different approach?" he said.
While there will be some changes, Streets Beach, the grand arbour, Clem Jones Promenade and green space will be protected.
Heritage-listed venues and structures will also be protected.
Mr Dick said the city was going through a transformation with the Queen's Wharf casino development, Howard Smith Wharves revitalisation, and the Cross River Rail project - a 10.2-kilometre rail line between Dutton Park and Bowen Hills, which includes 5.9 kilometres of tunnel under the Brisbane River and CBD.
"We want to be part of that and driving the future," he said.
Mr Dick said he did not anticipate any major changes to building heights or density in South Bank at this stage.
"But how we ensure that South Bank continues as a financially secure entity going forward is important," he said.
"But really it's about, I think, the assets and facilities that are here now, are they fit for purpose for the next 30 years?"
Deputy Premier Jackie Trad said those issues would be covered in the master plan.
"Fundamentally it will have to be consistent and sympathetic to the current buildings, the current density within the area," she said.
Ms Trad said she would like to see better connections from South Bank to Musgrave Park in South Brisbane.
"I think that we can be doing a lot to make sure that South Bank and the neighbourhood the community that it is situated in are knitted together in a way that makes sense for people, for pedestrians, for people who work here," she said.
South Bank Corporation chair Catherin Bull said nothing in the contemporary world stayed the same.
"Getting that notion of evolution clear in everyone's mind that in a contemporary city things do have to evolve," she said.
"So the community in its own mind needs to develop clarity about what qualities it wants to keep in this place as well as what places it wants to keep and those things it wants to change."
The master plan, funded by South Bank Corporation, will take two years to develop with a draft plan made available for consultation.
About 14 million people visited South Bank last year, more than double the six million visitors to the Parklands in 2004.
The master plan will be completed two years before the opening of the $3 billion Queen's Wharf project on the other side of the river in 2022, and the same year as the October 2020 election.
