APPARENTLY, FAMILIES DO NOT WANT TO LIVE in apartments – or so I was told several times over in 2012 by real-estate agents, while searching for an apartment large enough for my family to live in.
The property market in Aotearoa New Zealand tends to use the false narrative of demand and supply, pretending that it is responsive to social needs and trends. Yet, in fact, the combination of the property market and financial lending criteria limits housing choices, directly affecting social structures and urban form. Our suburban sprawl is driven by mortgage access favouring detached dwellings, under-fuelled by individual property rights, and this has become a cultural norm.
Yet, we have known for decades the damage that the endless spread of this housing form causes, economically, socially and environmentally. And we have long been aware of the rich alternatives in medium-density typologies evident throughout the world, yet have overlooked these options for decades because of mortgage barriers for apartment dwellings and, especially, for
