Veronika Wild

-Image generated by Microsoft Bing AI Excess Office Space: Too Little Housing I’ve been asking this question for a while now since many cities are facing not one, but two problems. The first is lack of affordable housing. The second is that - especially since the pandemic when many professional people discovered the joys of working from home, there are now many vacant office buildings . While converting them to housing looks like a perfect solution to both, it isn’t as simple as it sounds. WHY IS IT SO HARD? NOT ALL OFFICE BUILDINGS ARE CREATED EQUAL Modern Post War Office Buildings have air conditioning and glass curtain walls, many central pillars and no opening windows. This makes them poor candidates for conversion because each apartment would need its own bathroom, kitchen, plumbing, access and windows which open to the fresh air.  Because most older buildings usually have opening windows, they lend themselves more readily to this and may have more suitable floor plate...

Australia has had a National Suicide Prevention Strategy since 2017. In 2018, 3128 people lost their lives to suicide and another 65,000 attempted to end their lives, making it a serious health concern, especially as the rate has continued to increase. It remains the leading cause of death among young Australians between 12 – 25 and several other groups are also over -represented such as men of working age, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People and members of the LGBTI community. The latest plan for the the next five years (2020 -2025) aims high.   It hopes that “With the right systems in place and support easily accessible, no Australian in suicidal distress should see suicide as their only option.”  As with other national strategies around the world, there are proposals for programs and interventions to increase resilience, to increase awareness and well -being, to reduce stigma and bullying, to promote social cohesion and specific programs for at risk ...