Built on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation
We seem to have lost our way in the production of the built environment. Our cities and suburbs are built for profit, not for people, leading to an acute crisis of housing access and affordability. The market for new housing is dominated by freestanding project homes on the rural fringe and miserable highrise units in city centres. An entire generation of young people are effectively locked out of owning a home. And even if they can get a foot on the ladder, the choices available are few and lacking in quality and design invention.
Despite claims to have all the answers for how to build an equitable, social and just city, architects and urban planners instead often play the victim. We see ourselves as beholden to the greed of developers, constrained by the planning system, shackled by risk-averse builders and restrained by conservative clients. While there are notable
