The Australian Dream is based on the notion of the suburban quarter acre block with a private garden as an ideal place for younger children to live, grow and play. As city centres densify urban dwellers are reluctant to trade off the lifestyle advantages of inner city living when children come into a family.

The UrbanBACKYARD is an AJC Research Project that asks can we create an Australian model for high density living that can provide "a backyard with "free range" kids, a cubby house and a lawn to play cricket on"?

The AJ+C research investigated the ability of courtyard building forms to provide increased liveability for families with children in high density urban environments (over 1.2:1 FSR) with particular reference to a fourth need i.e. the provision of suitable private communal open space as a key element of affordable family friendly housing. AJC sought to identify guiding development parameters or rules of thumb in 3 areas initally;

• Public Domain. How does the building block scale impact on the District scale of the street, block, permeability and gross development yields and the relative areas for development lots, road reserves, private communal open space and public space?

• Built Form Scale. Assuming block defining built forms, what is the scale of the private communal open space and how does this determine the scale of the built form, net development yields and the nature of the residential community.

• Building typology. The use of multi core shallower depth models to improve sustainability and social outcomes