BRANZ Research: Liveability in Medium Density Housing

Investigating how livable our medium density housing is.

Developed for BRANZ, the Livability research investigated how livability was being achieved by medium density housing and how it could be improved. 

The project was a multi-year project and comprised four key phases;

• A literature review of the international and national research on liveability in medium density housing, 
• A review of the existing policy setting in New Zealand,
• Interviews with the regulators of medium density housing outcomes (Councils), and
• Surveys with residents who live in medium density housing.

By designing a multi-phase project we could understand both regulatory and non-regulatory barriers to delivering MDH and understand the perspectives of both the public and private sectors as well as residents themselves. Apart from providing the key recommendations, we also identified the knowledge gaps relating to liveability research in New Zealand which helped to identify areas that require more research.