The Greens want a vibrant city where people can move around easily. We want to preserve our remaining habitat and make sure we have plenty of trees and green spaces near where we live and work. We want a city where everyone has a home. We want a zero-emissions electric city that can deal with the heatwaves and flooding already locked into our rapidly changing climate.

But in addition to the climate and extinction crises, Canberra is struggling with homelessness, a housing affordability crisis, a booming population and a growing gap between rich and poor. Most cities in the world are facing the same challenges and we must find a way through that looks after our people and our planet.

We Greens back high-quality densification, including the “missing middle” – medium density housing the community have been calling for. This is the only way to tackle the problems we are facing. We need planning and design settings for a compact city that is less reliant on cars. We need careful densification through townhouses and apartments that are close to services. We need green spaces close to home. We need housing options that support people to stay in their community as they age.

Find out more https://greens.org.au/news/opinion-how-should-act-build-missing-middle-ft-jo-clay-mla