When Mike Shone had just joined the social board we had a lengthy conversation about which affordable AND sustainable housing models we could explore in the Biosphere. I was dreaming about creating NEW learning community clusters from scratch. Mike was suggesting the social board should aim for a 'RETROFIT'.

We were discussing to maybe retrofit a retirement village as a learning model. Apparently retirement villages are somewhat of an oddity in real estate investments. I was told they are one of the few property categories, where it is normal and accepted for the value to decrease over time. Please add your comment and correct me if I got this wrong.

This TED talk by Ellen Dunham-Jones is about American suburbia. Granted, only some of it is relevant  to the Biosphere - but a lot of it is relevant to the Sunshine Coast in terms of 'under-performing asphalt'. Imagine we could get excited about moving to Kawana main drag!

I agree with Ellen, and Mike for that matter: If we want to ween ourselves off our petrol dependency we need to rethink, rezone, re-green, subdivide and retrofit.. Lets create these 'third places' in walking distance to where people live. It is time to demand more sustainable places. It is time to let suburbia grow up.