IKEA Australia Reveals Tomorrow’s Sustainable Community

IKEA Australia in August released its ‘People & Planet Positive Report 2017,’ revealing what the community of tomorrow could look like in response to Australia’s population set to grow to over 70 million in the next hundred years¹.

With only a third of Aussies (32 per cent) believing we will be ready for new living scenarios an IKEA_Sustainability.001.jpg increased population would create, reportedly over half of Australians (51 per cent) don’t see these changes happening within our lifetime – despite our population expected to almost double in the next half century. 

The report suggests that the community of the future will focus on ‘co-living’ – shared living spaces and ownership, as the enlarged population prompts an increase in high-rise housing and mass migration from rural areas to cities – some of which don’t even exist yet. 

Key findings revealed in the report, include:

On the increased population and urbanisation:

  • 68 per cent of Australians believe we are not prepared for an increased population
  • 43 per cent of Australians still believe in the dream of suburban living down under
  • 56 per cent of Australians believe co-living communities won’t work locally
  • 63 per cent believe there will always be room for growing crops or raising livestock in Australia
  • Australians consider affordable housing and sustainable living as the most important factors in creating a sustainable community of the future

On timing:

  • 59 per cent of Australians do not envisage significant changes to the proposed housing conditions will occur within their lifetime, with 89 per cent believing a shared living scenario is 20+ years away

On a co-living community:

  • A quarter of Aussies (25 per cent) would be open to sharing their living room and laundry
  • 57 per cent would be willing to share a garden, whilst almost two thirds of Australians (65 per cent) would be open to sharing homegrown fresh produce
  • 25 per cent are open to sharing cooking with others in the community

It’s likely that as we embrace this high-rise, co-living lifestyle, our home furnishing choices will be focused towards easy to use, convenient and multi-purpose products designed for compact living and that facilitate shared living.

The full IKEA Australia People & Planet Positive Report 2017 can be found here: www.ikea.com.au/ppp_report.

¹ ABS, Population Projections, Australia, 2012 (base) to 2101. Source: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3222.0main+features52012%20(base)%20to%202101

 

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