What does affordable living mean to you?
And how do we make space for it—now, not later?
When we talk about affordable housing, we often default to numbers—percentages of income, median rents, government thresholds. But affordability is also a deeply personal and contextual measure. It’s not just about cost; it’s about dignity, stability, choice, and connection.
> It’s about the single parent who wants a safe home near school and work.
> It’s about a young adult who dreams of independence but feels locked out.
> It’s about the older woman navigating housing insecurity after a life of caregiving.
> It’s about our children, our neighbours, our future selves.
> It’s about a young adult who dreams of independence but feels locked out.
> It’s about the older woman navigating housing insecurity after a life of caregiving.
> It’s about our children, our neighbours, our future selves.
And it’s about more than shelter. Affordable living is also about access to the city itself—its public transport, community networks, green spaces, shared infrastructure, and cultural life. When we talk about affordability, we need to ask: Affordable to whom? For how long? And what kind of life does it support?
As I learn more about planning processes, it strikes me how slowly everything moves. Projects that feel urgent—because they are—get stuck in long loops of funding, consultation, approvals, redesign, repeat. By the time things are built, the need has often shifted—or worsened.
But what if we reframed our response to be more immediate, agile, and collective? What if we tested ideas at the scale of the meanwhile?
+ Vacant buildings as temporary housing and workshop space
+ Tiny dwellings clustered in underused lots or backyards
+ Tool libraries, kitchens, and laundries as shared urban amenities
+ Local development trusts with community land ownership
+ Creative residencies in exchange for repair, maintenance, or mentorship
These aren’t radical ideas—they already exist in small pockets. What if we scaled that mindset, not the buildings?
This is something reciproCITY will keep exploring—not just what we can imagine, but what we can do now, with the tools, spaces, and relationships already around us.
+ What would affordable living look like if we started with community care, rather than capital returns?
+ What if we moved faster—not by cutting corners, but by deepening trust and cooperation?
+ What could we prototype tomorrow?
+ What if we moved faster—not by cutting corners, but by deepening trust and cooperation?
+ What could we prototype tomorrow?
I’d love to hear what this means to you—what you’ve seen, what you’re curious about, and where you think we should begin.
Head to the @project.reciproCITY instagram page to join the conversation
