Narratives of high-rise housing: placing the ethnicized newcomer in inner Melbourne

Abstract

Over the last decade, inner-city Melbourne has experienced a dramatic growth in the construction of high-rise housing, a relatively unfamiliar housing form in Australia. In this paper we examine narratives concerning ethnicity that circulate among those involved in the planning and construction of this new high-rise housing. Our aims are two-fold: first, we wish to show that part of the ‘making sense’ of things that goes on in the developers' narratives in this context concerns the ethnicity of the occupants envisaged for the housing. High rise is an alien housing form in Melbourne, and attributing alternative characteristics, including ethnicities, to potential occupants, allows developers to ‘place’ people as a natural fit for the new housing form. Second, we wish to demonstrate how developers' narratives about the probable occupants of the new housing, and their reasons for being there, are complexly situated in the processes leading to the production of this housing in the places it is located. The narratives, as we see it, are part of the political economy of the housing production.

Keywords:

• ethnicity
• housing
• high rise
• Melbourne
• inner city
• narratives

Acknowledgements

This work has been funded by a research grant ‘Building on Ethnicity’ from the Australian Research Council, whose support we acknowledge. We thank Ros Moye, Natalie Jamieson and Haydie Gooder for excellent research assistance.

Notes

1 A heteronormative narrative runs through this deference to childlessness. Gays and lesbians are targeted as a wealthy group due to their assumed childlessness. Likewise, heterosexuals are momentarily defined around their child-free status. That is, yuppies are identified as being pre-children, and empty nesters as post-children.