Post 10: THE Final Idea

Post 10: Reflection and Proposition
Christine Ye

---

Throughout my blog research, I’ve noticed that while the statistical facts regarding housing affordability have shown a rise in housing prices and cost of living that is jumping ahead of the rise in wages, there has still been vocalisation on the attitudes of Generation Y getting in the way of achieving their home ownership goals. Assumptions, stereotypes and discussions of the psychological and emotional aspects of housing affordability describe Generation Y as not willing to work hard to achieve long term goals, preferring to spend on short term luxuries and material goods. They tend to have high expectations of their first homes, which are significantly out of reach when looking at their relatively low level of income and savings.

Due to the difficulties of entering the housing market where they are placed at a default disadvantage compared to older generations and property investors, Generation Y feel a sense of helplessness towards the situation and hence have put the housing dream on a low priority, at the same time minimising confrontation towards an issue they feel like they have no control or say over. Intergenerational differences and misunderstandings resulting in judgement and ‘if you worked as hard as I did’ comments from older generations also don’t help boost confidence in young Australians, even though there has been a definite change in lifestyle and focus.

With this contextual focus in mind, I presented to my peers a few options that I felt could be possible design interventions:

• A questionnaire that generates data on what Generation Y think of the housing situation, and how the situation makes them feel – an attempt to understand the emotional struggles of the younger generation in order to spread awareness of housing as not just a physical struggle, and possibly promote empathy in others.
• A product budget calculator that generates how many of a specific luxury item in the Generation Y lifestyle would equate to the average home loan e.g. ‘if you drink coffee once a week instead of every single day you’d save x amount and over x years you’d be able to afford a home loan’ – this can serve to remind the younger generation that a home loan isn’t an impossible saving task, to better their saving habits and splurge less, and also to raise an awareness that while Generation Y lifestyle is different to previous generations, it shouldn’t be discriminated against.
• A continuous data visualisation based on a questionnaire that asks how important home ownership is to Generation Y, and what things they would be willing to give up or not give up to save for a home – this aims to provide the younger generation with reassurance that their material-based lifestyle is okay and that there are plenty of others in that same boat, and also to redefine what a home means to the younger generation in terms of their lifestyle and promote acceptance of that different lifestyle.

On talking to peers, most people felt that the second and third concept were more developed, however they also mentioned that the third concept seemed resonate a lot more with what I focused on throughout majority of my blog posts which was empathy and understanding. The third concept also seemed to encompass elements of the first and second, and further discussion introduced a possible service design intervention through social media posting to generate more conversation and drive change in attitudes. Pitching the proposal draft to my peers gave me a bit more confidence and reassurance that I was on the right track, which is something I needed at this point.

---

Design Proposal

Project Title
‘What I’d Give Up’

Practice Type
The proposed design is a generative system with a small service design element.

The Issue
It is no secret that saving up and investing for a house is a small or easy task, however in 21st century Australia the housing market has been set up by previous generations of Baby Boomers and Generation X, along with foreign buyers, property investors and tax gearing policies to reveal a very disadvantaged starting point for young Australians to enter the housing market. It should also come as no surprise that as times have changed, so has the culture and lifestyle of Generation Y Australians which shows more short-term spending on material goods and lifestyle luxuries such as holidays. Studies have also shown that the younger generation of Australians consider notions of a house past the physical aspect; it was also a medium to enhance their identity and personality and hence expectations of what a house could fulfil were also higher. This lifestyle and higher expectations of a house, combined with the unfair nature of the housing market has resulted in a lack of motivation to even try and an unwillingness to seriously confront the situation, with social media postage only including posts of a first-world-problem nature.

However in the eyes of Baby Boomers and Generation X who have gotten over the initial home ownership hurdle and are current home owners, Generation Y has been stereotyped as lazy, whiny, expecting too much and judged as not willing, wanting or capable to work hard and save up for a long term goal. While this stereotype may have developed from a superficial understanding of the younger generation, studies have shown that the housing affordability situation can end up taking a toll on mental health; young Australians aren’t exempt from this possibility with added intergenerational judgement and misunderstanding not helping the situation physically or psychologically.

The Possible Change
The housing affordability situation has shown itself to involve so many stakeholders, from small stakeholders such as individual home owners or renters to larger stakeholders such as the government body. It would take a collaborative action between all major stakeholders to direct possible large scale change in terms of the housing market and affordability issue. However Australian individuals can provide mental and emotional empathy and understanding in order to support each other, instead of bestowing judgemental which ends up putting more pressure on the younger generation and causes a likelihood for them to completely close off and ignore the issue. The lifestyle of young Australians shouldn’t be something held against them because of intergenerational differences, it should be accepted as a different lifestyle instead of seen as an excuse. If young Australians were to open up about their individual struggles and their perspective on housing expressed through a valued part of their lifestyle, they would possibly be more inclined and encouraged to face the housing issue head on.

The Design Action to Support Change
This design proposal provides the younger generation of 18 – 24 year olds a platform to express what material goods or luxuries they value in their life and what they would give up or not in order to afford a house; this generative system will seek to redefine what a house means in the language of younger Australians for other younger Australians and the older generations. It will provide reassurance through the possible variety of individual responses, promote acceptance or empathy of this changing lifestyle and also generate a more honest level of social media conversation.

Data will be collected through a simple and quick online survey, and then added to generate a compilation of individual responses which can be seen by all people visiting the website. There will also be a social media option to post up what the individual has answered and to generate more talk and activity about housing from the eyes of the young Australians.

Post 10: Reflection and Proposition

By Rebecca Tomas

During the lesson we were paired up with one of our peers to discuss our draft proposal. I pointed out that I wanted to focus on Generation Y and raising awareness of the issue of the housing crisis. As from my research, interview, probe and just discussing with others about the issue I came upon the realisation that many were uneducated on the topic. Sure, everyone knew it was expensive to live outside of home and many wanted to do just that – they still lacked awareness and knowledge of the issue at hand and really how serious this issue has become for younger generations and Gen Y.

At first when I delved into thinking of a few design propositions I was focusing in on coming up with an amazing solution to housing affordability which is next to impossible obviously. However, I knew I could focus on smaller sections of the issue and I knew I wanted to create a sense of awareness and to educate others in the 18-24 year old age bracket on how the housing crisis. Again from my research, probe, interview and conversing with others I came to the realisation that Generation Y is also known as “Generation Selfish”. Many would love to live outside of home- yet they would like to buy a new car and go travelling as well and some would find that more beneficial than owning a house. From research its been said that younger generations aren’t saving hard enough for a home as they are too busy spending their money on luxury living rather than cut their lifestyle- hence being called Generation Selfish. I can say that from my probe many would love to own a property however are still in the phase of wanting many high end materialistic items and wanting to travel around the world etc which are all pricey and do not add up to owning a house at the end of the day. My proposition was to one: Raise awareness of the issue to Generation Y especially 18-20 year olds who are in that mindset that they will own a house one day yet are currently all about the luxury lifestyle. From doing this I wanted to create perhaps a Generative design system + data visualisation that worked on electronic billboards/screens near stations and bus stops where many of the target audience would be near just before going out clubbing, going to school, uni and work – so it would be something they see. I wanted to compare the percentage of house prices and show how much they have risen by comparing that to food prices, the average price of alcohol, an average night clubbing in the city etc.

For example

A rough mock-up I did of potentially what the billboard could look like comparing the inflation of house prices in suburbs to items and other “luxury” items that would relate and connect to an individual in the Gen Y bracket. 

By going ahead with this concept it not only raises awareness of the issue however according to my peer feedback it does so in a eye opening way and would really show how serious the issue is to individuals in the 18-24 age bracket. More feedback included that I was apart of Generation Y so it is something I would have experience and knowledge on and the way you look at the issue is from the perspective of someone who is part of generation Y and has been raised in this society where prices of everything have risen. My peer also suggested I do different suburbs and find something unique in those suburbs to use as data for my concept such as Darling Harbour = Clubs & restaurants so compare food and drink prices to housing prices… I know this proposition still needs a bit more fleshing out and is still a bit rough around the edges however I think the concept is there and I am excited to see where it goes!

Post 10: Reflection and Proposition

Reflection

It was immensely helpful to pitch my ideas to someone else. The broad ideas I presented to my tutorial partner were:

To undertake an archival study of foreign investment in Australia over time.

To draw parallels between current housing situations and the slum housing that existed in cities pre-1910.

To create a service that allows young Australians to share their voices to Australian politicians. Get the youth informed and involved.

Aspects of all these ideas evolved into my new idea: to use 1950s house and domestic ads as the art style of posters that critique how archaic our view of housing is, and how we are out of touch with the 2016 reality of the market. This new concept was really exciting because it drew together the ideas of contrasting housing today with housing in the past and would do so in a way that engaged the youth. I also love the art style of 1950-60s ads and feel they are ripe for parody because they hold such strong connotations to ideas of ‘perfect domestics lives’, ‘nuclear families’ and ‘the Australian/American dream’.

 

Proposition

Project title:

Times have changed

Practice type:

Information visualisation and a small interactive component

The issue:

In 2016, the great Australian dream of owning a home, and raising a family in it, persists as one of our most championed expectations. In a 1950s-inspired spin on our collective national psyche, owning a home is the defining step in ‘settling down’ and is perceived as the final passage to adulthood for many young Australians. The issue is that this archaic vision of housing is just as dated as the concept of the perfect ‘nuclear family’ the world was sold in the 1950s. There’s an intergenerational fracture in our national identity. Homeowners still believe that if members of the younger generation work hard enough, they can own a homes, all the while denying that times have changed and ignoring how negative gearing and investor incentives are the major barriers to first home buyers. Furthermore, housing affordability is an issue with winners and losers; politicians have an interest in supporting homeowners, so without youth outrage there is no incentive for changes to affordability.

There’s a second-level to the issue; not only are younger generations having their voices go unheard, there’s a general disinterest or sense of powerlessness amongst the youth when it comes to housing. My challenge then is to mobilise the youth, to show them that housing unaffordability is a part of their lives and they need to share their voices now, not just when they go to buy their first home.

The possible change:

Get young people to start thinking about how housing unaffordability affects them now – not only when they go to buy their first home. I hope to use parody to point out the social consequences of the housing bubble: people live at home with their parents much longer. I also aim to use direct quotes from politicians and information visualisations to highlight how the market has changed over the years, but this is not being reflected in the views of our leaders, hence the lack of support for the youth.

The design action to support change:

Overview:

A magazine aimed at young Australians. Using a combination of info-graphics, timelines and parody illustrations to question how we view home ownership in Australia, and, to highlight how the reality of buying a home has changed since the 1950s but the out-of-date expectation and dreams remain.

There is potential to extend the project into a media campaign by designing ephemeral youth are often in contact with. This would be public art such as posters placed around universities, bar coasters and stickers. It may also be extended into a digital format (likely a website) to boost its reach to a young audience.

Art style and illustrations:

I will be using a 1950-60s art style to highlight how drastically housing has changed and question how our politicians view housing. The youth voice goes unheard or is stifled, with out-of-date stereotypes being the basis of housing policy. This art style evokes ideas of the nuclear family and domestic ideals – by subverting the subject matter and localising references to Sydney these traditional ideals are re-explored.

Some ideas include illustrations of:

Ads for new homes that are undersized and overpriced.

Nuclear families struggling with the pressures of keeping a roof over their head.

Parallel images of families with young children and 35 year old children who still live at home.

Quotes:

Spreads will feature quotes from Joe Hockey, John Howard and Tony Abbott that show how their views on housing are skewed to those of wealthy homeowners. These comments are outrageous and frame how their views are out-of-date and out-of-touch with the reality of the pressures families are facing.

Service:

Within the magazine, an inlay page urges you to mail in your opinion! 18-25 year olds can write to their representatives in a medium that they’re comfortable with: fill in an ‘angry letter’ template and place it in the provided pre-paid envelope.

Information visualisations:

Show how many properties politicians own, and the value of their houses. Comment on the class divide and question whether people with so much invested in the current housing system should be speaking for the general populations.

Use a cost comparison: How long does someone on the average weekly earnings have to work to buy the average house? In 1960 the multiple was 4 years. Now it is 12 to 13 years.

The most recent detailed Australian Bureau of Statistics breakdowns on the subject showed 35 per cent of 20- to 24-year-olds and 7.8 per cent of 25- to 29-year-olds had never left home. In total, about 22 per cent of 20 to 34 year-olds had left home and returned at least once.

 

Easy Come, Easy Go

After many attempts to articulate my problem statement, it has become apparent that I am still struggling to communicate the problem that I intend to solve. During class, I was having a chat with my classmates, we were saying how there are so many problems that needs to be addressed within this issue. Since I was still very confused with the process of creating an emergent practice, I drew up a quick mind map to brainstorm possible solutions. Although, I was falling behind with understanding what we had to do, soon, I was able to grasp onto a series of ideas that I could possibly work on. I also met with my tutor approaching her about my concerns with this project. I feel like I gained more clarity as to what I was doing although I didn’t have a strong proposal to present to her.

Proposal

For my design intervention, I propose a data visualisation called “Easy Come, Easy G0” to demonstrate how young individuals spend their earnings. Young people today are more likely spend excessively and do not plan ahead (long term goals).

Due to the high cost of living in Sydney, young people are not prioritising their savings for a housing deposit. This raises questions like…

“Where does the rest of their income go?”

“Does it change their quality of life?”

“Does taking away from other living expenses (food, clothing and recreation) limits their quality of life?”

Generation Y is now struggling to buy or even own a home without even knowing it. Considering the state of the housing markets, it is more important than ever to be more money wise especially for would be homeowners. The problem is that the younger generations don’t care about housing affordability and don’t really talk about it.

I intend to create a series of A2 posters that shows possible future scenarios and the consequences of excessive spending and not prioritising their savings. Alternatively, also showing possible outcomes where that money could have been used.

Ideally, I would like my audience to questions their spendings and maybe even feel slightly ashamed. I want to create awareness for young adults, so they are more cautious on their needs and wants. I want these posters to be thought provoking and inspire more young adults to start thinking about small habit changes in their life.

 

POST 10: CB”Z”

Reflecting Upon My Info Vis Obsession (And why it doesn’t always apply)

In creating an initial proposal, I was a little too focused on the info visualisation aspects of the problem space – as opposed to what the proposition was meant to be – a design action to support change. Whilst my initial proposal had elements that were interesting, it didn’t really reach out to spark a debate, bring awareness or explore a niche of the issue of housing affordability. I essentially, in hindsight wanted to map the affordability of suburbs 15km from the CBD – and create a sort of print based “guide” or “pamphlet” that could be used by young people aged 18-24. Essentially categorising each element – distance – areas e.g. “inner west”, suburbs, configurations of properties – and creating a visual style and language to visualise the rental property prices of sydney’s housing market in this snapshot in time.

But whilst I am a fan of print based media –  I was reminded that our age bracket wouldn’t really use something like that or be inclined to pick it up in the first place – therefore the medium of an app would be a more age appropriate reach. And furthermore, this idea was simply a visualisation, nothing that would add value or differ from existing sites like “domain.com.au” or “real-estate.com.au”.

So stressing slightly that I had no idea to go off, I sub pitched a second idea that I had in the back of mind, but didn’t know how I would collate the data for. I wanted to map or create a service design that would highlight not only the most “affordable” suburbs in Sydney, but also the most “liveable” ones. During my probes, interview and general group discussions, people always mentioned that it wasn’t just about the pricing, or the configuration of the home. Everyone had these “dream” areas they wanted to live in, Mosman, Rhodes etc. Places that had a nice neighbourhood, was close to cafes, amenities. It wasn’t just about cost – it was about culture and lifestyle. But because of the housing affordability issue – these places were just out of reach dreams.

THE BIG PROPOSITION

Therefore my proposition would be looking at capitalising on this idea of “culture and liveability”. Because the Sydney CBD is becoming so unaffordable – it was brought up in feed back that perhaps it would be a good idea to create a sort of service design that would make apparent the

• Possibilities of other CBD’s and areas to live that could offer that “quality of life” young people are looking for
• New hubs that can meet their cultural and social needs

There isn’t a lack of property to inhabit, buy or rent. Rather there is a lack of property that ticks all the boxes. So this service would attempt to explore and perhaps get people to examine beyond the boundaries of the CBD – into a debate that discusses the importance of liveability over availability. It could be an intervention to get people out of the city that we know and into other CBD areas that could be more affordable – and more importantly – more liveable. And a social intervention to get people to change the way they look at “housing” and the property market. For example it was brought up that Parramatta has been pushed to become the “new CBD” and that a lot of artistic ventures, government funding etc. could possibly turn it into “the next Surry Hills”. What are the new CBDs? These dark horses at the bottom of the typically perceived “cool” list – Is it time to look at these CB”z”s?

To summate 

Project Title: CB”Z” 

Practice Type: Service Design + (possibly a bit of info vis) 

Possible Change:  An intervention to look at remodelling the perceptions of affordability in the housing market to not just include monetary value – but also a quality of life – that so many young people are seeking. To open up the scope, get people out of this one city, and to reconsider the mindset that moving out or finding your own home is an impossibility because of the current economic climate. 

Design Action: To create a service that could approach the process of “moving out” and finding your own home. Perhaps a campaign that promotes the idea of “multiple cultural CBD’s” that exist in Sydney. Or something that would map aggregate data in a way that emphasises liveability. Possibly filtering this idea of a CBD’s cultural offerings in a comparative manner. 

Blog 10: Reflection and Proposition

After a discussion with my partner regarding my initial design proposal, it was obvious that there were many unresolved areas/ areas that needed further consideration before it would be deemed a workable concept. Admittingly, my direction was still pretty vague as I wanted to create an online platform that would promote shared housing as an attractive housing solution for Gen Y, which would be economically and spatially viable for the future. However, the issue was that it lacked an unique differentiation from the already existing services out there, such as http://www.flatmates.com.au, which “allows people to list their spare rooms, find accommodation or team up with others to start a share house.”

Ideally, I was interested in suggesting different housing typologies as from the research I’ve conducted, the reality that traditional nuclear family homes are not necessarily considered the most suitable housing model for the growing demographics and dwelling types, hence the solution of shared housing – whether multigenerational housing, shared house ownership, seemed like an attractive avenue to explore, particularly as someone like myself was not previously aware of these housing models.

After further discussions with the tutor and my group members, and a revisit of my previous blog posts, I felt like there was potential to use the probe I conducted which inquired into the spending priorities of a sample individual from Gen Y, in relation to visualising the affordability of buying a home.

Practice Type: Service Design+Data Visualisation

The Issue: There is a general lack of awareness for Generation Y, in the sense that they are not constantly thinking about the housing affordability crisis because there is a feeling of hopelessness that discourages them to consider it as an achievable goal, or, it does not seem like an imminent reality that they should be concerned about in their current situation given the range that Generation Y spans (18-25 year olds) where the priorities of buying a house may differ in extent. However, in order to bring awareness and encourage them to take action, there needs to be some sense of relevance made towards their current situation, which will put into perspective their attainability of future home ownership.

The Possible change: “Ultimately, the only long-term solution to improve the home ownership prospects of young Australians is to change the imbalance between incomes and house prices” (Rowley 2016) Based off of this quote from an article “What’s the key to home ownership for Gen Y?”, it is important to show personal projections of each individual’s potential to afford home ownership, in terms of their own spending habits, as revealing insights into their monetary behaviour can in turn bring an awareness to what it means for them to afford a home in the future.

The Design Action: To promote the affordability of a house for Generation Y as a more achievable goal by providing a service that assists them in becoming more aware of what their spending goes towards, which would generate their weeks/months spending into visualisations. The highest category of their respective spending would then be used to project how much of those quantities would amount to their ideal house. The use of their spending data and transforming them into visualisations that would inform them of their potential to purchase their ideal home, would be a done in a way which would be enlightening, motivating and potentially humorous as their highest category of spending could be on something that the individual would not typically expect. For example, if the individual’s highest category of spending was dedicated to their Netflix subscriptions, it would then produce a visualisation that show how many Netflix subscriptions would allow them to purchase the home they want. The individual would also have the option to share these outcomes with their friends (via social media), which could be a way of generating more discussion around better income management and as such, making the affordability of housing a closer step to reality. The style of the service design could potentially be casual and conversational, as it is something I would want people from Gen Y to want to use, unlike many ‘budget apps’ out there which feel too serious and focused on entering monetary values.

 

Post 10: Reframing my Stance

A Pivotal Refinement

When discussing my draft proposition with my colleague, they pointed out that I didn’t have a focused problem statement. Whilst I had identified that I wanted to talk about Generation Y’s perceived inability to attain the Great Australian Dream of home ownership, this was still quite a broad intent. The impact, function and usefulness of my proposed design was not yet clearly articulated.

My colleague encouraged me to vocalise the parts of my research that had really stood out to me. This forced me to synthesise my research, interests and opinions, in the hopes that I might identify a more specific direction for my proposition. I found myself continually talking about how I was frustrated and angered that the ideals of the Great Australian Dream and the quintessential Australian lifestyle I had been brought up with, would be lost as a result of Sydney’s current housing affordability crisis. This was a pivotal exercise as it consolidated where I position myself on the issue. I realised that I firmly oppose major shifts away from the notion of the Great Australian Dream. For example, I do not support the rapid increase of high density living in Sydney’s suburban areas.

This urged me to reframe my proposition. Rather than talking generally about Generation Y’s experiences with attaining the Great Australian Dream, I decided to adopt a slightly more assertive and perhaps aggressive stance on the issue. I realised that the ideals that fuel the Great Australian Dream are something that I want to protect, preserve and celebrate. I want to encourage others who share similar sentiments, in particular members of Generation Y, to also voice their opinions because without conversation our Great Australian Dreams will surely dwindle.

#SaveTheBurbs—a generative design proposition.

The Issue:

‘…we’re not enabling our children to grow up in the areas we grew up in,” (Murphy 2016).

Increasing house prices has led to dwindling hopes for Generation Y Sydney-siders to achieve the Great Australian Dream of home ownership. The dream of owning a detached house on quarter-acre block—with a garden, hills hoist and barbecue, is not about greed or materialism. Home ownership is associated with freedom, family, hospitality and prosperity. The fear of Generation Y’s lack thereof, has the potential to heighten their financial and emotional insecurities. A lack of affordable housing in Sydney’s suburbs, means Generation Y, may have to move further afield to buy their first home or they may have to ditch the Great Australian Dream altogether and live in an alternate dwelling-type.

As Sydney moves towards solutions for it’s housing crisis, it seems that there is a push for more high density housing developments in it’s suburbs, such as apartment blocks or townhouses. This threatens to drastically change Australia’s quintessential suburban lifestyle. For example, high density living has seen Australians trading in backyards for balconies. In attempting to create cheaper, one-size-fits-all housing solutions, important facets of Australia’s national identity are at risk of being forgotten.

The Possible Change:

I want to remind Sydney-siders, in particular those living in the suburbs, of the values associated with the Great Australian Dream—values such as privacy, freedom, recreation, nurture, hospitality, safety, pride and comfort. Doing so highlights the need for these values to be upheld throughout future urban planning. I want to adopt a nostalgic approach to protest against sacrificing the Great Australian Dream in order to solve the housing crisis.

Design Action to Support Change:

Part 1: #SaveTheBurbs Archive

I want to invite suburban Sydney-siders who have experienced living the Great Australian Dream to share a photograph and caption that depicts what they cherish most about the home they grew up in and/or currently live in.

The design will operate on a website platform where users can upload their photographs, add a caption and fill out some basic information about the photographs history. The entries then contribute to a growing archive of anecdotes and images celebrating the values of the Great Australian Dream. The design is thus a generative storytelling archive. Users will be able to filter the archives by suburb, year and specific features and/or rooms. Users will also be able to share entries via social media, with #SaveTheBurbs and a link encouraging others to also get involved. The archive serves to preserve and stand as a testament to the significance of the Great Australian Dream. It also seeks to commemorate and document the dream, particularly in case it does disappear.

Part 2: #SaveTheBurbs Media Kit

Using the data generated by the archive, I intend to create social media content that will enlighten and motivate others to preserve the ideals behind the dream in order to keep it alive. I want to prompt more consideration of the impacts of high-rise residential developments in Sydney’s suburbs on the existing local communities. I also seek to create a publication that can be presented to local councils and the NSW Government that emphasises the importance of improving housing affordability to increase Generation Y’s ability to attain the Great Australian Dream. For example, I want to encourage them to improve policies concerning first home buyers to support young Australians buy their first home. There is also the potential to explore how the ideals behind the Great Australian Dream could be brought into the shifting housing landscape.

Murphy, D. 2016, ‘Crisis point for affordable housing’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 13-14 August, p. 12.

Blog 10 – Reflection and Proposition

Feedback from my colleague suggested that my proposition was on the right track. The Housing affordability issue was a dry topic and parody would go a long way in raising awareness of the issue, particularly with younger audiences who might not otherwise be interested.

The initial proposition was to create a full advertising campaign for a decrepit property pushing exaggerated sales techniques to the point of parody. This could include real estate pamphlets, a fake Domain listing, and an over-photoshopped property photo shoot.

We also talked about the idea of portraying a greasy real estate agent hell bent on pushing the sale price of a lowly property. The format could be a video ‘fly-through’ of a dank decrepit abandoned house that had been styled with modern furnishings. The agent would voice over the video, describing the place as having plenty of ‘character’, ‘industrial chic’, ‘beautiful ‘distressed walls’, and the local heroin addicts as a revivalist fashion statement from the 90s.

The idea isn’t too bad but I’d like to think further on other concepts as the video might take a while to produce and there isn’t much time left in the semester.

Another idea was to create a parody service design to bring awareness to the issue. Strategically located public toilets around the CBD (near realtor HQs), would be altered to mirror the experience of buying a house in Sydney. The toilet corridor would be designed to look like a miniature suburban street, with each cubicle looking like a house, complete with mailbox and house number. The user would enter a property (cubicle), taking a property showcase flyer on the way in – complete with one-room floor plan and photography of the toilet. Upon closing the door the user will be able to browse the house as they do their business. The wallpaper of the cubicle would portray the perspective of a small apartment in 360 degrees from each side. You would have to request a loan of toilet paper from the ‘bank’ which would feed out a roll of cash-printed paper (hundred thousand dollar bills) that you would ultimately flush down the toilet as you push the button that doubles as your signature on a purchase agreement.

In representing this idea, it would probably be done using cartoon storyboards or photography showcasing the complete user experience.

Reflect and Propose

During the previous lesson we were paired with a partner, explaining our draft proposal to them. Whilst looking into the housing affordability issue and conversing with others around me on the topic, it became clear that many although wanted to live outside of home did not have much knowledge on the housing topic and when asked about costings, their general go to answer would be “it will be expensive” which further displayed their lack of knowledge into the actual costings to live independently.

This prompted my initial draft proposal to develop a website which would aid individuals to find housing solutions, where the website would collect their income and expenses, and with the collected information help them search the current market for affordable housing solutions.

Upon introducing my initial draft proposal to my partner, although she thought it was a good bases for a service/generative design, she was concerned that similar platforms would have already existed and that continuing my proposal would just turn out to be a duplicate of them.

Receiving such feedback made me brainstorm and search for ways to alter the bases of the website to make it more unique whilst also suitable for the current technology savvy generation.

Looking back into my previous tasks, in one of classes we looked into more specific issues within housing affordability and focused heavily on the emotions that each particular group reacted. While looking into this tasks, a wave of flashbacks between conversations with different people in and out of class hit, and what especially hit was the emotions they exposed when talking about it. Much of which was anger towards the government, companies and foreign investors.

After having a flashback of emotions, I wanted to combine the two aspects together a generative design that also doubled as a service design. A website that could inform the government and public about the emotions felt when trapped in between this crisis.

 

Proposal

 

The housing crisis being in full gear for several years, living in most parts of Sydney has being deemed unaffordable, limiting many home owners in choices and opportunities on living solutions.

This issue of unaffordable housing grew from factors including interest rates, foreign property investors, population growth and a plateau median income just to name the least. The sky rocketing prices of living has angered a wide audience of the Australian population and many have become sick, fearing on not being able to attain the good o’l Australian dream of a house with a picket fence.

Whilst previous generations, had a much more even playing ground when coming to the housing game, generation Y and future generations are all copping it in the chin, with the median income yet to change increasing the income to housing price ratio, which already stands at a high of 1:12.2. Figures like this has cause a lot of stress and anger within the community.

Thinking through this problem of unaffordable housing plus the emotions felt throughout Sydney, my proposal was to combine the two. The website would be a generative design that collects the users data (e.g. income, expenses) and also a service design that specifies to the user as to where they could afford living solutions in a very angry and aggressive tone to mimic the publics emotions to the issue and also in a way show just how much of a joke the housing market is in Australia, especially Sydney and Melbourne.

 

10: Put a ring on it.

Post 10: Reflection and proposition
Angela Tam

---

Going into this class, I had a brief idea of what I wanted to do—after having some time to reflect and ponder, out of the last three concept maps from my previous post, I felt most inclined and interested in the one regarding the Australian Dream. What I presented to my colleague was only a vague idea of where I wanted to take the project and what I envisioned, and so it was really helpful to have her comment and give feedback. I was able to not be ‘too precious’ with my idea and was open to the constructive development. Coming from a different issue all together, my colleague was able to give me a fresh perspective on my project having never seen it before, which made explaining the concept clearly to her very important.

I showed her the mind map I had previously, explaining how I noticed during my data scraping that the Australian Dream of owning your own home is not really represented on social media, in particular, on Instagram – the most visual and image-based social media platform. I wanted to somehow archive the images found under #AustralianDream (or similar) and perhaps redefine the Australian Dream for young adults through a data visualisation/service design piece.

The first thing my colleague noticed was that I didn’t really have a problem statement. I noticed this too—as it was quite broad, it was difficult to explain and picture within an emergent practice in a succinct manner. We also agreed that service design would probably not be the best emergent practice to explore for this concept and that there were more opportunities for better design in the other options.We discussed possible problem statements, and concluded with something like:

There is a disconnect between the expectation of the Australian Dream and what is perceived today in young Australians.

By seeking data found from Instagram under that hashtag #AustralianDream, I aim to document what the demographic on this social media platform are posting. (Recap: what I found in data scraping was that in #TheAustralianDream there was an incredibly minimal number of posts related to housing within a pool of 200 or so images.) We discussed how this data collection and visualisation could become my process for Task 3A, and then for 3B could create some sort of campaign incorporating these visualisations about the contemporary Australian Dream.

Aside from her helping me refine my problem statement and proposal, I’ve learnt and been reminded that this process may be time-consuming, however it is important to run with ideas and extract as much as we can from them in order to progress. I’ve also been reminded of how interesting ideas can come out of talking to people who might not usually see your process as they could have fresh perspectives and offer feedback from a non-biased way while also encouraging you to be able to explain concepts clearly. Communication is vital in this part of the process in order to move forward, and later I aim to communicate this concept clearly through a set of visuals.

---

Proposal 💍

Project Title: Dream On, Mate.

Practice Type: Data visualisation + Generative

The Issue: Young Australians are finding it more difficult to buy a home in the city they live in and the topic of housing affordability is not really spoken about or represented on social media. While data-scraping, I found that under #theaustraliandream there were not many posts about ‘the’ Australian Dream of owning your own home, rather of other things that make up a particular lifestyle. If owning your own home isn’t the ‘Aussie Dream’ for young Australians anymore, then what is?

Problem Statement: There is a disconnect between the expectation of the Australian Dream and what is perceived today in young Australians.

The Possible Change: (This still needs refining) The proposed design intervention will bring the issue of the evolving Australian Dream to the forefronts of the minds of young Australians. By doing so, it could relieve any pressure on this group of people to own their own home by redefining the Australian Dream, subject to each individual. Once achieved and people are aware of the housing issue in Australia and the relevance and personal impact it could have on them, then further action towards bigger change could be conducted when this conversation starts.

The Design Action to Support Change: This design intervention intends to provide a simple, relevant data visualisation of images found under the hashtag #australiandream on Instagram. These then could form the basis of a campaign that aims to redefine the Australian Dream for 18-25 year olds.This would be a community based approached that encourages social media users (predominantly in the targeted age group) to think about and realise why they do not reflect this ‘classic’ dream in what they post. The campaign would have a main website/app that the audience is directed to, where there would be the data visualisations, and informative yet approachable details about the housing issue in Australia/how the Australian Dream has evolved over time that can then inform and spark conversation. This website becomes a resourceful platform that highlights relevant articles, videos or other links and allows the audience to comment/share on the issue, reducing the sense of isolation, stress and/or anxiety that one may face when looking at the unaffordable housing market today.

---

*added 27/09/16 after feedback in tutorial

The concept remains the same, however I will be aiming to create a generative data visualisation that is poetic in nature. Instead of creating a website that has links to articles etc., the proposition is leaning more towards a website that asks users to select an option/s of key topics or categories that would define the Australian Dream for them. These category options would be collected from analysing the type of images that are found under #australiandream. After typing or choosing the words that mean most to them, users will be directed to a visualisation of responses that changes over time as people interact with the platform. This suggests and documents the evolving and personal definition of the Australian Dream today.

 

 

 

Post 10: Reflection and Proposition

Reflection

I thought my draft proposal was a great idea until my peer knocked it straight down to the ground- and for good reason. Coming from a different issue group, they were fresh eyes and provided interesting feedback. Their knowledge of housing affordability was similar to mine before the start of my research journey which was definitely full of assumptions, blame and the thought of hopelessness. However, that view was needed as my own views became more unrealistic. 

What I thought was particularly useful was the chance to pitch the idea to my peers which made me realise how many problems it had. It was full of holes and every question asked about it left me agape for words. What my peer addressed was that I did not have a solid issue. What was the problem exactly? How was I going to design something for someone if I didn’t know what it was supposed to do or fix/help in the end? After identifying multiple pathways with my peer that I could take with the issue, the next hardest part solidifying my idea, which was by no means coherent or useful.

On the flip side, I listened to how my peer pitched their idea on an issue that I didn’t know about. It was interesting to hear how people interpreted their issue and the sub issue they identified within it.

Proposal

Title: Is that Suburb Real?

Practice Type: Data Visualisation, Service Design

The Issue: 

There is a lack of awareness of more affordable suburbs near high activity areas which contributes to young Australians putting off the search because they feel it’s futile to even look.

The Possible Change:

From my interviews and probes, I found that Young Australians are discouraged from searching for homes because all the ideal ‘cliche’ locations are too expensive and unaffordable. After I asked peers about their needs and preferences, I presented to them a suitable, cheaper alternative to which some responded “I didn’t even know that suburb existed!” What was also interesting was their facial expressions when they found out there was actually hope. 

What I linked to this issue was the lack of awareness and information other than in media which can be quite skewed. We often hear about the ‘top 10 suburbs to live in’ or the ‘top 10 affordable suburbs’ but no information other than that. 

The Design Action:

An interviewee stated that “Right now, the only way I’m looking for homes is along the train line. I don’t have time to do further research”. I want to tackle this issue using service design and data visualisation in the form of a website. The website will show a colour coded map that shows the activity levels of suburbs. For example, a high activity area like Sydney CBD or Macquarie Centre will be coloured red whilst surround areas will be coloured green. This will visually indicate to the user how far the suburb is from the activity hotspot whilst also being in a reasonable house price range just because it isn’t a hotspot. This is particularly useful for identifying unknown suburbs near places of high activity which are also generally transportation hubs to get where you want to go. 

What will be innovative is how ‘activity’ is measured. There would be checkboxes and a very advanced search function for users to identify what contributes to the activity heat map. The activity from multiple criteria will be added up and displayed on a map. For example, couples who don’t want children or people living alone can uncheck the schools box so that school activity does not contribute to the map. There will be general selections like population or  median house income but also more niche selections like crime rate or median age.

Once users have found a suburb that fits their needs and wants, they are able to click into it to find out more information. The website provides otherwise months of research in a visually interesting way for hopeful future homeowners to find those unknown unaffordable locations. It is designed as an assisting tool for users to work with on their search. As the activity levels change in real, it also affects the hotspots on the website, thus being an up to date, adaptable and self updating digital database.

Reflection and Proposition

Coming to class in Week 7 with a ‘semi-idea’ turned out to be the right call. By not being attached to a particularly strong idea, I was able to adapt my idea from peer and tutor feedback and come up with a much stronger conceptual standing for my idea. I sort of did the normal design process in reverse, as I let a vision of my design idea propagate my conceptual rationale.

Speaking with Ting about my ‘home-buying for dummies’ service design idea really highlighted the main issue with housing affordability in Australia. People aren’t really talking about it. Data scraping for housing affordability was pretty tough because people aren’t tweeting about this issue. So it was through my data scraping results (or lack thereof) that I came to the realisation, that the younger generation (18-24 year olds) don’t care about housing affordability because they don’t really know about it. This sort of stuff just doesn’t affect them. For example, last week Chris Bowen, the opposition treasury spokesman said that home ownership among younger Australians is now just a pipe dream. This was from an article on the front cover of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Cover of SMH 22/9/16

The FRONT page of a major newspaper was talking about housing affordability! Conversely, Sydney’s other daily ‘newspaper’, the Daily Telegraph ran with this on the front cover: 

Cover of the Daily Telegraph, 22/9/16

Public vs private ownership of newspaper debate aside, readers would probably find an article titled ‘TRAGIC LEGACY OF LOST GIRL X’ far more interesting to read than ‘Housing crisis fuels division, says Labor’. The Telegraph title sounds like a Hollywood movie, whereas the Herald article sounds like THE most boring piece of writing ever written. And that’s just my opinion, as an 18-24 year old.

I showed this sort of evidence to Ting and she suggested ways I could make my design a more interesting and appealing piece of work. Looking at other pieces of service design aimed at this age group could be a good way to see what works well/not so well and how I can utilise my design to appeal to this age group. Creating an e-book or website on issues surrounding housing affordability (Buying a home, financing a home, where to buy etc.) while creating a visually appealing aesthetic will be the challenge over the coming weeks. Things are finally coming together with this idea and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.

Post 9: Visual documentation of the brainstorming session Briefing

By Rebecca Tomas

I did find this mapping exercise and brainstorming session to be more beneficial to me in terms of consolidating everything we have learned thus far and thinking of a final design propositions for Task 3. From this I was able to refine more what direction I wanted to head in which was pretty much set in stone for me. The map we all worked on is shown below with problem statements below addressing who, what, when, where and why. The work below is very rough and not yet refined enough however it does show the potential statements that can be developed and pushed further and it helped we did it collaboratively as it wasn’t just one person doing the thinking it was four of us all together consolidating everything we have learned throughout the semester on the issue of housing affordability.

Strengths

Strengths of this exercise include just coming together as we have been doing and consolidating everything we know in regards to the issue and focusing on the specific questions which helped frame our design propositions. Even though we had all been researching the same topic we all still had a few different answers which was good as we were not repeating the same ideas and information but gaining new insights into the issue and would benefit us more in refining our design proposition and we could all add onto each others ideas which was helpful especially as I tended to get stuck on thinking of a design solution to the issue however I have come to the realisation that I want to focus on more raising awareness of the issue as we can’t actually come up with a direct solution to the housing crisis however we can address small aspects within the issue and I wanted to propose something that resonates with me- not just design something for the sake of designing something.

Weaknesses

Weaknesses included again me having a difficult time to come up with a design solution to the issue as I think I was thinking way too hard about it and not taking a step back to realise there are many aspects I could potentially focus in on. Also still trying to understand the design outcomes we have to address such as generative and service design also had to be researched more and after going over what could be done, I was able to think more about a design solution  and proposal even though it was still very rough and not refined as it could have been.

Post 9: Anyone Got Any Ideas?

Post 9: Visual documentation of the brainstorming session
Christine Ye

---

As a continuation of post 8 which talked about the process, possibilities and findings of the brainstorming exercise, this one discusses what I felt were the strengths and weaknesses of the exercise.

While the group brainstorming exercise was intended to generate five different problem statements and various possibilities for those statements, our group ended up creating an overarching problem statement on what we thought was the crux of the housing affordability issue based on the 5 W’s.

Our one comprehensive problem statement.

The Problem Statement: In 21st century Australia, Generation Y is experiencing difficulties when it comes to buying their first home. Sydney is one of the most expensive cities in the world and because of the high cost of living, paired with the younger generation’s low to medium starting income, this creates unfair opportunities for them in a housing market dominated by older, richer generations and property investors. The lack of collaborative government support in affordable housing, and a surplus of unsuitable property supply, resulting in a rapid disappearing model of the Australian Dream.

Strengths: Although we didn’t do the exercise as intended, the mapping component helped to paint a clearer picture on what we all felt were the main points to consider in the issue of housing affordability – it was a step that narrowed the issue down and helped put into perspective what we, as 18 to 24 year olds felt were crucial to address. As someone who has significant difficulty with putting words into sentences to accurately depict an idea, I felt that the problem statement we produced as a group is something that I wouldn’t have been able to do on my own. I’ve realised that the way something is worded can help to produce a much more rich, illustrative or emotive image in one’s mind which generates a more empathetic reaction from the audience.

Weaknesses: Even though we did so many weeks of research (which is quite a time consuming process), having to take insights from that research, identify possibilities and actually turn it into an opportunity for a design proposal was a huge strain on my brain. The brainstorming exercise would have been a great way to tune each other into thinking about the issue critically and specifically… had we actually done it the right way. At this point, I felt like there was an overall uncertainty between all my group members as to how we were to put on those specific thinking hats and whether we were on the right track or not so we ended up looking at the problem stating exercise in a very broad manner. This resulting in us mulling for the rest of the tutorial as to what proposals could come out of such a broad perspective, and unfortunately we left class with no answers. Possibly we just needed a nice long study break to break ourselves away from the subject for a little and come back with a fresh outlook on how to go about this crucial part of the subject.

Post 8: Brainstorming Possibilities for a Design Response

As complex as the issue of housing affordability is, over the many weeks researching, probing and interviewing, I have managed to gather some key insights. Although they are still quite broad and are not specific, they are good to bounce ideas off.

• There are a new generation of young Australians who want to live the renting lifestyle and spend money on holidays and experiences.
• Young Australians are discouraged because of the bleak outlook of the housing market.
• The issue is not being dealt with and if so, (the government) it’s not working. Most of Australia has accepted this phenomenon to be something that cannot be changed.
• Young Australians dream big (The Australian Dream) but know they will not ever get there which is demotivating.
• Young Australians/Hopeful homeowners are not educated enough in the issue.

From my insights, I can see that an underlying issue is the lack of information and awareness, coupled with the demoralising thought of not being able to afford a house.

From that, I have coined a few possible design solutions:

• An clear, concise aesthetically pleasing e-book or small pdf that visually shows the stats of the Australian housing market. Take the words out (which is usually any document that details the housing affordability crisis) to engage people who don’t want to read scholarly articles to understand.
• A website or app that is a map of affordable housing. This may have been done before? What can I do differently.
• Posters that promote the renting/buying experiences lifestyle.

POST 9: Visual documentation of the brainstorming session

Thoughts / Annotations:

At night I have nightmares of mapping constantly. Like a fever dream on loop – I map with myself, I map with friends, various celebrities and historical figures – even the strange homeless man that lives in the bushes on Parkway Ave, although he tends to get the map kind of dirty. In the morning I wake in a cold sweat, but am soothed when I realise there are no maps in sight and I can eat my breakfast in peace. That is until we are asked to do yet another mapping exercise.

Blog 8 – Brainstorming possibilities for a design response

 

What?

Housing Affordability is major problem in Australian capital cities. Negative gearing policy, capital gains tax cuts are the main pieces of legislation that are maintaining and increasing the issue. Self-serving politicians with interests in their own property portfolios further driving the gap between rich and poor Australians. The younger generation is facing renting into retirement. The older generations were encouraged by the government post-war, to invest in property as a means of settling down and averting an ageing population financial burden on the country.

Who?

First-home buyers. The primary affected age group is the 18-35 year olds who are looking to enter the housing market. Unlike older Australians who already own a house – purchased at a much lower price, and now have the ability to sell and move based on their current house worth. Parents of the younger generation are also affected as there is a now a trend to stay at home longer and save up for a house. Also lower income people are adversely affected.

When?

Since some of the earliest tax laws for Australia. The Keating government in 1985 briefly overturned the law but then reintroduced it two years later. The problem has currently hit an all time high and has been in debate in the recent 2016 federal election. John Howard argues that negative gearing should not be abolished since it has always been integrated into Australian tax law and that it is rather “a product of the forces of supply and demand, and poor planning decisions by State Governments and local councils…”

Where?

Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide. Australian big cities are the most affected areas. Those in closer proximity to the central business districts where most of the jobs are. It was found in 2014 that no house within a 10k radius of Sydney’s CBD was being sold for under a million dollars.

Why?

The issue is being opposed by the Liberal Party for various reasons. There is a fear that abolishing negative gearing would create a ‘property collapse’, causing many Australians to forcibly sell who rely on the tax laws for their investment properties, although this fear has been dispelled by labor’s ‘grandfathering’ measure. Another concern is that rent would rise as owners would be forced to increase rent to cover their losses.

 

Possible Design Responses:

–           Parody of real estate magazine (Wentworth Courier) selling ridiculously small areas around the city at exuberant prices. E.g an alley featuring stray cats, Teddy the homeless man, broken glass etc.

–           Satirical real estate signboards on house lawns.

–           Use the actual Wentworth Courier magazines as an art piece, or sculpture using stacking techniques or collage.

–           Photos of houses for sale as part of a fake marketing campaign. Could use use extreme wide-angle lenses to make a shoebox apartment look like an aircraft carrier. Could use obvious photo shopping make less desirable houses more appealing to first home-buyers.

–           Shoot a ‘fly through’ video of a house with a parody real estate agent character over-selling a tiny overpriced house.

Post 9: Brainstorming as a collective

 

Group Problem Statement

A high-quality PDF version is available here.

Identifying links

It was thoroughly satisfying to start noticing links between the groups’ answers to the who/what/where/when/why sections of the problem statement. Rather than merely jotting down anything that came to mind, this exercise urged us to be more critical of what we were selecting to include. A strength of the process is that it has really encouraged us to consider multiple facets of ‘Generation Y’s’ positioning within the issue of housing affordability. Additionally, the formulating of a problem statement has provided us with a cohesive understanding of the situation which will better inform our design responses.

Other peoples’ interests

A strength to the process is that by continuously coming together to brainstorm collectively, we are consistently reminding each other not to neglect the topic as whole. Over the past few weeks, we have all started to narrow our focuses based on our particular interests. In doing so, we risk forgetting to keep up to date with the topic as a whole and/or failure to consider peripheral aspects of the topic, that may be useful to our design response. As we all have different interests, our discussions enrich each others’ explorations of the topic by consistently pushing each other to think from different perspectives. Group sessions allow for other people to suggest possible directions or identify potential problems that I may not see by myself.

Laziness

A major weakness of the process was that as a group, we tended to generalise what we meant when writing our answers. I think this is because the group has reached a point where we feel like we are repeating ourselves and reiterating the same information that we have been mapping over the past few weeks. Rather than slowing down and feeling demotivated, I think we should treat these mapping opportunities as chances to reveal new insights into our topic.

Humour and energy

A strength of brainstorming collaboratively is that it helps people discuss the issue in a colloquial and stimulating manner. I find that this helps me relax and encourages me to come up with more unconventional and creative ideas. Sometimes when I am brainstorming by myself, my ideas can become quite convoluted and stray off the right path. Voicing my ideas to another person helps me determine whether it is practical based on their reaction. It also is a good opportunity to test drive an idea to gauge whether a suggestion is relevant, understandable and enticing.

 

 

Brainstorming session

 

In the previous tutorial we were grouped into pairs and told to specify the 5 W’s according to the issue we were researching into. The 5 W’s being Who, What, When, Where and Why. Doing this in class task allowed us to have a more specified and clear picture as to which audience our issue mainly hit, largely Generation Y and future generations.

Besides from looking into a more specified target audience, we were able to map out links between categories more easily which also in a way created a wider and broader view of the issue.

Coming to research into this housing affordability issue, I only had a single perspective viewing into this issue which limited the overall scope and possibilities of proposals that could of being developed in means to change and better the problem for current generations and future generations. A significant strength and positive collaborative work brings into the brainstorming process is the ability to absorb what others in the group say and think towards the issue. Whilst we both were fighting different battles in the housing affordability spectrum, we were able to ditch out different views and different content onto the page which in a way educated the other in their battle. Besides from pure knowledge, an individuals’ perspective is also a significant factor when looking into any kind of issue. Everybody having a very personalised lifestyle strongly affects their perspective  which in a way could educate the other on their lifestyle and how their “categorised” class look into the issue.

Although working collaboratively, allows two minds to generate more information, there are at times where the generated information can be redundant and useless to your specific issue. This was partly the case with some of the information generated in this class tasks. Much of the content was repeated knowledge which did not exactly guide me to a more specific problem statement.

 

 

 

 

 

Post 8: Brainstorming possibilities for a Design Response

By Rebecca Tomas

For this task we had to come together for yet another mapping exercise. However I found this one to be a lot more beneficial to me than the other times we had to map as we were finally coming to a design proposal after all these exercises and also the questions that were listed helped slightly in framing my proposal which I found difficult to come up with even though I had a slight idea of what direction I wanted to head in regards to the issue of housing affordability.

Brainstorming Activity

Who does the problem affect?

The issue at hand being housing affordability/the housing crisis impacts many individuals and organisations – especially young individuals in the Generation Y bracket as we are being dubbed as Generation Rent and will have the most difficulty becoming a property owner in the future. Stakeholders include: students, first home buyers and government bodies

What are the boundaries of the problem?

Many boundaries can considered such as economic aspects (income wages have not inflated at the same rate as housing prices), Spatial (overcrowding/urban sprawl, government impact) Social (The Australian population is currently rising) Political (government tax policies e.g stamp duty/land tax) and Educational playing a major factor in the 18-24 year old age bracket as one being uneducated and lacking awareness of the issue and finding motivation to educate themselves as many know the housing crisis as a basic issue and especially being 18 years old to be specific you would not be interested in educating yourself on the issue as it’s not a major concern to many young teenagers at their age to own a house.

When does the problem occur?

NOW, NOW AND NOW. The issue is happening now and is getting worse especially if no action is taking place.

Where is the problem occurring?

All around Australia, however Sydney is the worst city being affected with Melbourne coming in second. Specific areas being affected are: The CBD, city views, beach/waterfront housing and suburbs and universities

Why is it important the subject is fixed?

It is important as not only does it affect Generation Y but will come to affect many generations after us if the problem does not get fixed soon. There is a supply and demand factor which needs to be fulfilled as Sydney is becoming over populated by the minute and this needs to be more sustainable. The Australian dream of once being able to own a house is fading away for many young Australians- yet at the same time for many it isn’t a major priority yet for others it is.

Following this breakdown of set questions I was somewhat able to come up with a few problem statements that I can refine into design propositions.

• 18-19 year olds don’t care and are not particularly educated on the issue of the housing crisis as it isn’t a priority for them at their age – yet even people who still all fit into the 18-24 year old age bracket, not everyone is educated on the issue. How to bring awareness to them and show just how serious the housing crisis is.
• Many australians finishing uni want to move out yet are still wanting to move and stay close to their roots and stay in a suburb they are familiar with (also found this out from my interview) yet can’t afford to stay in the same area they grew up in that is also easy to commute to work. Many have to live in the suburbs that are essentially too far from work and the commute is long. This is also affecting middle to low income earners to cannot afford to live closer to their jobs/the CBD which is caused by urban sprawl.
• How long would it take for a recent uni graduate to save up to purchase their first property?
• How does one budget and prioritise their savings in order to save up for a house in todays steep market especially being at that age where it just isn’t a priority and some would say it’s easier to live at home with their parents and find it more beneficial to save up for a car/travel..