Why don't small households live in small dwellings? Disentangling a planning dilemma

Advocates for the compact city often suppose that smaller household mean people will want smaller dwelling. This paper analyses the growth in lone-person households in Australia and shows that most people who live alone prefer detached three-bedroom houses and that many of them are able to realise this preference. Planners have too readily assumed that the demographic shift to smaller households will facilitate a shift to more compact cites. There is very little evidence to support this assumption.