Australia was once a nation where the great Australian dream was owning a home with ample space for a lawn and a garden. But by the 1990s, the dream had shifted, at least politically, with then prime minister Paul Keating famously saying there was “more to life than the quarter acre block”.
He suggested governments should plan for more diverse, denser and consolidated housing options. Our cities could be more efficient, allow people to be closer to the services they needed, and the smaller land requirements of higher density and high rise would provide people with more affordable housing options.
Over the past three decades, governments have promoted high rise in policy and through the planning systems. A state government plan to build high-rise apartments in suburban Melbourne is a recent example.
