The key aim of this project carried out by Terry Burke and Robin Zhakarov was to develop a small number of scenarios about the nature of Australia's housing system at a specified future date. As such, the project involved the development of a significant exercise in strategic foresight about alternative futures for Australia's housing, the conditions and policies which would support these futures, and the implications for research and policy. The project drew on the literature and experiences of the field of foresight studies, a creative field of investigation, analysis and postulation to develop scenarios that help prepare organisations and nations for possibilities and challenges. The project applied foresight methodology to the issues of Australia's broader housing system, examining the effect of major economic, technological and social trends, and exploring alternative policy pathways on a future housing system.

In analysing the implications of scenarios, questions of winners and losers, impact on ecologically sustainable communities and implications for and impacts of government interventions are explored. A secondary aim of the project was to run a collaborative dialogue across a wide range of players in housing policy in all sectors, particularly those within AHURI. Questions that emerged from this project are: What do we understand are the key trends and influences on Australia's housing system? What are the interrelationships between key trends and influences on Australia's housing system? What possibilities can we anticipate for Australia's housing system in the next 10, 20 or 30 years? What policy and research implications do these scenarios have for the sort of decisions we are facing?