Current issue
35.2 (2026)
The current housing affordability crisis in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand is well documented across all forms of popular media, and its causes and implications also well documented across scholarly discourse in economics, planning, and the social sciences. The situation is mirrored globally with decreasing access to housing in other economically prosperous and developing nations alike. Yet, the trope of a “housing crisis” is far from new and has a longer history that can be traced back to nineteenth-century reformist discourse on the conditions of Europe’s industrial workers. Since Henry Roberts presented model homes for workers at the Great Exhibition of 1851, architecture has long played a visible role in shaping housing debate.This special issue called for papers that document historical tensions between architecture, housing, and social politics. We asked: how can an architectural perspective illuminate the social history of housing? How has the relationship between architecture and society been historically imagined through housing? The papers we received are inevitably diverse, frequently crossing boundaries between architectural history and political, social, construction, and planning histories. Some are geared more intentionally towards praxis, using history as a lens to inform current housing policy, while others use housing as a means to shed light on larger historical questions, particularly concerning migration and national identity. All the papers expose new narratives. Some bring previously marginalised geographies (Adelaide and Brisbane) into focus, while others revisit iconic plans (Le Corbusier in Chandigarh) from the perspective of previously marginalised actors. They also highlight the oftentimes highly complex nature of interaction between public and private institutions and actors that have historically guided housing provision.
Past issues
35.1 (2025)
35.1 (2026)
34.3 (2025)
34.2 (2025)
34.1 (2024)
33.3 (2024)
33.2 (2023)
33.1 (2023)
32.3 (2022)
32.2 (2022)
32.1 (2022)
31.3 (2021)
31.2 (2021)
31.1 (2021)
30.3 (2020)
30.2 (2020)
30.1 (2020)
29.3 (2019)
29.2 (2019)
29.1 (2019)
28.3 (2018)
28.2 (2018)
28.1 (2018)
27.3 (2017)
27.2 (2017)
27.1 (2017)
26.3 (2016)
26.2 (2016)
26.1 (2016)
25.3 (2015)
25.2 (2015)
25.1 (2015)
24.2 (2014)
24.1 (2014)
23.2 (2013)
23.1 (2013)
22.2 (2012)
22.1 (2012)
21.2 (2012)
20.1 (2011)
20.2 (2011)
20.1 (2011)
19.2 (2010)
19.1 (2009)
18.2 (2008)
18.1 (2008)
17.2 (2007)
17.1 (2007)
16.2 (2006)
16.1 (2006)
15.2 (2005)
15.1 (2005)
14.1-2 (2004)
13.2 (2004)
13.1 (2003)
12.2 (2002)
12.1 (2002)
11.2 (2001)
11.1 (2000)
10 (1999)
09 (1998)
08 (1997)
07 (1996)
06 (1995)
05 (1994)
04 (1993)
2-3 (1991)
01 (1989)