Led by academics from the School of Architecture, Design, and Planning, the project Public Housing: Lessons for Higher Density Living examines decades of public housing history to identify valuable insights for sustainable and people-centred housing.
“Few people realise that, in Australia, public housing has been a locus of innovation and experimentation for the design, planning and construction of higher density housing for a hundred years,” explains Dr Cameron Logan, one of the project’s researchers.
“Public housing units are among the small minority of Australian dwellings designed and constructed with the primary goal of creating durable and amenable shelter. Yet the lessons to be learned from these approaches to designing high density buildings have gone largely unrecognized due to the stigmatisation of public housing and its tenants.”
The research team is working to address this oversight by evaluating public housing not only for its historical significance but also for the principles that could benefit modern housing projects. They aim to highlight how architects, planners, and policymakers can learn from existing public housing to foster high-quality, affordable homes that promote resident well-being.
A public housing building in Melbourne Australia
The project, originally initiated by Dr Michael Zanardo under the Garry and Susan Rothwell Chair in Architectural Design Leadership, brings together a research team including Associate Professor Cameron Logan and Dr Rebecca McLaughlan from the University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design, and Planning, Dr Alisson Sisson from Macquarie University, and Dr Zanardo, Dr Lee-Anne Khor, and Dr Liz Taylor from Monash University. The interdisciplinary team merges insights from architectural history, urban studies, and contemporary practice to identify best practices for sustainable high-density living.
Sydney’s Waterloo Estate provided a particularly insightful case study for the team. Built over several decades, this site features a range of housing types, from three-story walk-ups to towering high-rises. In analysing Waterloo, the research team uncovered some surprising findings that challenge the widespread notion that its buildings are outdated or unfit for purpose. While maintenance issues exist, the researchers found many units in Waterloo offer impressive underlying qualities.
“Positive aspects of the housing, including good quality natural daylighting and ventilation, a strong sense of privacy in several of the building types, high-quality green space with deep soils, to name just a few, highlight that the potential benefits of renovation and the negative impacts of resident relocation, have been overlooked."
Contrary to the popular idea that demolition of the Waterloo Estate is the only viable path for the site, the team notes that these attributes of the site align well with current design standards and could be enhanced rather than erased.
“There are more balanced approaches to renewal that involve refurbishing some buildings, infilling where appropriate, and gradually phasing out older structures,” explains Logan.
This approach could significantly alleviate tenant displacement and bolster public housing availability in the long term.
One of the project's key findings is that the redevelopment of estates like Waterloo is often driven less by housing quality concerns and more by economic factors.
“Waterloo is selectively represented as outdated, emphasising its flaws to justify demolition,” says Logan.
“Key drivers of redevelopment include the estate's high land value and potential financial gains from partial privatisation,” explains Logan, noting that economic motives often overshadow tenants' well-being and environmental sustainability. In contrast, retaining and retrofitting older structures could reduce the social and environmental impact of housing renewal.
“The benefits of redevelopment must be weighed against the impacts of forced relocation on tenants’ health and wellbeing,” the team recently wrote for The Conversation, adding that, “the decision must also take into account the embodied carbon from the buildings’ construction and the reduction in social housing supply through demolitions.”
In the context of Australia’s mounting housing crisis, the team hopes their findings will invite architects, planners, and policymakers to consider approaches that balance community needs with long-term housing goals.There is still much to learn from our existing public housing buildings and their resident communities, and the team hopes to continue this important work alongside key stakeholders.
“As Australian governments begin to reinvest in social and affordable housing and commit to higher-density housing to address linked crises of housing affordability, housing availability, and urban sprawl, opportunities to learn from this history become increasingly valuable and urgent,” shares Logan.
“In the planned future stages for this research, we hope to engage with interested government and industry partners."
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