We grew up in a 3 bedroom house. When we were becoming teenagers. Dad built an extension which expanded one of the bedrooms to provide enough room for two growing boys and enlarged the kitchen, added a family room and extended the lounge room into a lounge and dining room.

We had one of two dinners parties in the new Dining room, but it became the defacto study as we entered High School.

In order to free up the dining table again, the second extension featured a 4th bedroom (which opened onto a private deck), dedicated study and expanded laundry.

All these extensions were a complete waste of money because my brother moved out shortly after we completed it and my younger sister moved out to live with our uncle and aunty after a heated argument with Dad over the Liberties of Man (and teenage girls).

I believe that the house is now owned by some “New Australians” (and my dad would have called them) and has two families living together.

Well we are building more - but I'm sure we could build more. But if Australia is to have higher density living (such that is it common for families to live in apartments) then we have to reduce car dependency. Increasing the number of cars when the traffic is already maxed out can only lead to problems. So we have to add more people without more cars. i.e. more people who don't drive cars.

becau$e you can't cram a$ many of them into a build

Paris is known for small and expensive apartments, some, if not the highest per square meter prices. Why would you want to emulate that?