Get smart and we can build homes for us all: Op-ed by Professor Alex Zelinsky AO
Originally published via The Daily Telegraph
It’s no secret that Australian families are facing rising costof-living pressures, soaring house prices and a shortage of new homes. Our housing system relies on decades-old methods that no longer fit our modern needs.
It’s no secret that Australian families are facing rising cost-of-living pressures, soaring house prices and a shortage of new homes. Our housing system relies on decades-old methods that no longer fit our modern needs.
It’s time to face a simple truth – to build homes faster, cheaper, and more sustainably, we must change our approach to design and construction. Applying what research has shown us is key to driving this change.
Through applied research, Australia’s leading universities are developing practical new ways to reduce construction costs and boost productivity. We’re creating more affordable, sustainable housing solutions.
The Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN) brings together six of the nation’s most industry-engaged universities – the University of Newcastle, RMIT University, Curtin University, Deakin University, Swinburne University of Technology, and the University of Technology Sydney. We focus on research with impact in everyday life, working with industry and government to improve how Australians live.
The 2025 State of the Housing System report identified “low rates of productivity and innovation in the construction sector” as the main barrier to boosting supply. We don’t just need more homes – we need smarter, more efficient ways to build them, to make every brick and every dollar go further. Across the ATN network, we can see this approach in action.
At the University of Newcastle, the Fast Slow House project develops adaptable housing using prefabrication and earth-building techniques that offer a blueprint for sustainable and resilient living.
RMIT’s engineers are turning waste into value by developing strong, low-cost construction materials from cardboard, soil and water.
At UTS, years of research have been translated into Your Home, Australia’s leading online guide to sustainable design and construction. With more than one million visitors a year, it helps households design and retrofit energy-efficient homes.
Each project shows how homegrown innovation can deliver real, practical solutions, however, to meet the housing challenge, we also need to shape the policies and systems behind how homes are designed. Deakin University’s A Home, Not Housing project shows how design can support community wellbeing. Informed by victims of domestic violence, the team created a Good-Home Design guide to ensure social housing is both practical and trauma-informed to support their recovery. RMIT’s Living Together project re-imagines shared housing to strengthen social connection, and Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) links wages, rent and regional supply to produce the evidence governments rely on to shape housing and affordability policy.
Climate change adds another layer of complexity, with Australia’s housing system needing to withstand tougher conditions. Our universities are responding by rethinking urban planning and construction materials to develop affordable and sustainable solutions. Curtin University researchers are designing ‘smart cities,’ that combine better planning, transport and energy systems – the kind of integrated urban design that will be critical for future communities.
Globally, we see many examples that show what’s possible. Singapore’s top five ranking in the 2024 Smart City Index is based on data-driven design and smart infrastructure to improve housing affordability, energy use, and quality of life.
Australia can learn from this, with our ATN universities best placed to adapt these ideas to our own context.
Australia’s housing crisis sits at the intersection of economic, environmental, and social policy, and innovation through applied research is what connects them. If the federal or state government’s broader reform agenda is to succeed, it should embrace housing innovation – showing how applied research can turn policy ambition into real outcomes and tangible results for our communities.
Professor Alex Zelinsky AO is Vice Chancellor of the University of Newcastle and ATN Chair
