How We Live
White Paper

The How We Live report* was the output of a collaborative research project led by Living Systems Development co-founder Ben Preston.

You can view the final report by clicking here.

The report explored the complex reality of New Zealand's housing crisis – as something we've all helped create and need to work together to fix. It explored different approaches to housing that are tried-and-tested overseas, and that we believe offer better ways forward than what we have now. Living Systems Development uses these ideas by doing whatever we can – including developing land and projects – to support housing approaches that work financially, serve communities well and help rather than harm the environment.

*This report was prepared in 2021. Much has changed in New Zealand since, and the report was not perfect to begin with. The fundamental insight that housing sits at the centre of many of the most productive and dysfunctional aspects of New Zealand remains true today, and we firmly believe in the need for a collaborative, bipartisan and non-political response to the housing crisis that enables more imaginative development models than most New Zealanders have access to today.

MOTIF remain the owner of the report, which was produced – and is shared here – under Creative Commons license. Please ensure that any references to or reuse of the report (which are encouraged) meet Creative Commons requirements.