The government wants local authorities to embrace AI – here’s one way it could work in practice
By: Alex Lord, Professor, Lever Chair of Urban Planning, University of Liverpool Few issues ignite communities more fiercely than what to do with land. The prospect of releasing small portions of green belt land for housing developments, a windfarm proposal or plans for a new road can transform mild-mannered citizens into passionate advocates overnight. This visceral […]
Here’s why increasing productivity in housing construction is such a tricky problem to solve
By: Martin Loosemore, Professor of Construction Management, University of Technology Sydney This week, the Productivity Commission released its much-awaited report into productivity growth in Australia’s housing construction sector. It wasn’t a glowing appraisal. The commission found physical productivity – the total number of houses built per hour worked – has more than halved over the past […]
Rising house prices don’t just make it harder to become a homeowner – they also widen the racial wealth gap
By: Dorina Pojani, Associate Professor in Urban Planning, The University of Queensland Homeownership – long a cornerstone of the “the American dream” – is increasingly out of reach for the average American. Over the past four decades, U.S. house prices have risen by 75% in real terms, pushing the costs of homeownership for the typical first-time homebuyer […]
Home ownership is slipping out of reach. It’s time to rethink our fear of ‘forever renting’
By: Dorina Pojani, Associate Professor in Urban Planning, The University of Queensland A wide range of voices in the Australian media have been sounding the alarm about the phenomenon of “forever-renting”. This describes a situation in which individuals or families are unable to transition from renting to home ownership, due to rising property values and wages that can’t […]