Governments of different stripes tend to believe that the way to deal with the housing crisis is to build more houses. If there were an 'abundance' of houses, we'd be able to easily tackle the lack of *access* to secure housing. But is abundance – as popular as that term has become in the last year – the key to the issue? (Let alone the key to a nice 3-bedder in the suburbs). In this funny and boisterous Festival of Regenerative Urbanism event, held by the Henry Halloran Urban and Regional Research Initiative at the University of Sydney, a panel of experts with a bee in their collective bonnet go head to head.

Starting with a spirited critique of 'Abundance' by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson from Professor Nicole Gurran, the debate features:

Jess Scully, Author, City-maker & Curator;

Tina Perinotto, Publisher and Managing Editor, the Fifth Estate;

Patrick Fensham, National Leader for Urban Policy & Governance, SGS Economics & Planning; Planning Institute of Australia Victorian President;

Professor Steven Rowley, Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Curtin Research Centre;

Ben Hendriks, Founder & Executive Chair, Mecone;

Mehnaaz Hossain, Editor, Honi Soit, The University of Sydney.

Photo: Wedge-Tail Pictures