All rights reservedRaynor, Katrina2024-09-182024-09-182016978-85-7785-551-1https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14235/2000Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the southApartments and townhouses are increasingly being advocated by developers and planners as an attractive and cosmopolitan housing choice and as a solution to a range of urban ills in Australian cities. Brisbane, Australia’s third largest city, has seen a dramatic increase in the construction of this relatively unfamiliar housing type in the past decade. Despite the proliferation of higher density developments, the appropriateness of apartments as a place to raise children is often contested by planners, developers and residents and in the newspaper media. In addition, Australian cities have often been criticised for failing to create child-friendly environments. Commentators have cited sedentary and over-protected lifestyles, lack of opportunity for recreation and self expression and high levels of parental anxiety as reasons why Australian cities are adversely impacting children (Gleeson & Sipe 2006). Prior research has noted a strong emphasis on childless, high income households in the discourses and marketing strategies surrounding this housing typology (Costello, 2005; Fincher 2007). This has historically served as a justification for the lack of provision of child-friendly facilities, areas and design in inner-city locations. The following paper employs Social Representation Theory, a theory derived from social psychology, to identify the ways in which ‘common sense’ understandings of children in higher density housing is collectively constructed in Brisbane. The theory provides a critical lens to evaluate the way in which certain representations about children and housing are shared and supported while excluding, defending and limiting other representations in the process. The purpose of this paper is two-fold; firstly, it will identify key social representations of children in higher density occurring in the newspaper media and in the discourse of planners, developers and residents.EnglishopenAccessconferenceObject1254-1257