More than a roof over our heads: housing as if the environment mattered

When asked to consider the topic of housing, most of us would think of it as a personal, cultural or, increasingly, as a political topic. Historiographically, housing has largely been assessed aesthetically, spatially, and geographically: as part of the broader narrative of how white Australians have colonised, inhabited, and made a ‘home’ in a foreign land. But the design and construction of shelter, much like the production of food and fuel, has long carried important environmental consequences. This paper will look at housing anew and consider a history that takes into account the environment, landscapes, and climatic conditions particular to this continent.

Given we are currently experiencing a severe housing 'crisis’ with skyrocketing prices and the largest rental shortage since pre-WWII, it is timely to re-visit the logic of the market, the lure of suburbia, the force of privatism, the shifting fortunes of town planning and the increasingly concerning and confusing state of energy grids. But beyond the responsibilities of government and the realities of housing quickly becoming an asset on a marketplace, it is also time to consider the implications of how we build, design and inhabit our houses, across the country, as both an issue of ecological and social justice, and as a tangible way of addressing the ever-present and ongoing extremes of anthropogenic climate change.