The city as a system of systems

摘要

Housing is one system of many that make the city. It is an essential part of the many different strategies people employ to operate in the city, and so the cost and affordability of housing need to be also seen as part of overall household costs. For many, navigating the city and choosing housing is a matter of trade-offs on location, 'quality', size, type, tenure and accessibility. When there is no longer a capacity for trade-offs, when housing costs intrude into the other essential parts of household budgets (such as food, clothing, energy and water), and when this applies to a large and increasing proportion of the population, this constitutes systemic failure.