From Inside Airbnb to Housing Justice: The Role of Civic Urban Technology

Hear how activists turned Airbnb data into policy change across 165 cities, plus local researchers on using tech for housing justice.

Murray Cox's Inside Airbnb mapped short-term rental impacts across 165 cities and converted hidden data into housing policy wins,hear how his team did it, then explore what civic tech can achieve locally. Cox presents alongside urbanist Aline Cruvinel on their latest analysis of rental threats to housing systems, followed by University of Sydney researcher Danielle Hynes and Jack Moon from the Tenants' Union discussing how data justice shapes planning and advocacy in NSW. The panel examines what makes civic tech campaigns stick, the structural conditions needed for real policy change, and the emerging tensions around platformisation and AI. Designed for anyone working on housing, planning, data advocacy, or urban inequality, though useful more broadly if you're curious how citizen-led research can move governments.