We all want a good quality of life for ourselves, our friends and families, and our communities. There are many positive aspects to community life, but we all know of things that could be made better. Part of making that happen is about making sure our communities have decent homes, plenty of green space, good transport, and access to things like cinemas, pubs and sports pitches. This chapter explores how we can go about building and renewing our communities.

The scale of Britain's housing challenge is set out in Chapter 6. It is clear that we urgently need all types of new homes, from family houses with gardens through to apartments. We also need all types of housing tenure, ranging from social housing (subsidised rent), intermediate tenures (such as part rent, part buy schemes) through to high quality homes available for private rent or purchase.

Many younger people want to move out of their parents’ homes, particularly in their late twenties and thirties. They want to embark on the first steps of housing independence, whether renting or buying, and many people are looking for somewhere affordable to bring up a family. Many of the older generations are looking to comfortably ‘downsize’, but with the ability to stay in their local community and with enough space for the kids and grandchildren to visit. Ultimately, whether young or old, we all want to live within positive, healthy, vibrant communities. Alongside providing enough homes, we also need to create jobs and support growth in sustainable locations and bring about a transition to a green economy. We must enhance the natural environment and ensure it is accessible so that we can enjoy it.

In solving our housing crisis we must learn from the past and ensure we do not repeat our mistakes. In our desperation to build, we must remember that the decisions we make about the built environment cannot easily be undone.