Beyond shelter: A design framework for remote indigenous housing in Australia

This paper reports on the development of a design framework for improving housing conditions in remote Indigenous communities in Australia. The first section of the paper outlines the nature of the housing crisis in these communities and briefly reviews recent policy changes that have the potential to facilitate major improvements in the number and quality of houses to be built in the communities in coming years. The second section defines the concept of 'design framework' used in this paper and the process of research that was undertaken in three case study communities to elicit stakeholder views of an appropriate design framework for remote Indigenous housing in Australia. The final section of the paper provides an overview of the design framework that was developed with a particular emphasis upon how a 'Triple Bottom Line' view of sustainability was used to guide the development of an integrated and balanced set of guiding principles for the planning, design, construction and maintenance of remote Indigenous housing.