Call for Papers: Housing, Technology and the Law

Call for Papers

Law, Technology and Humans

Guest Editors: Tegan Cohen and Lina Przhedetsky 

Data, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms are reshaping how housing is financed, built, used, managed, regulated, and accessed in Australia. From automated planning approvals to the use of robots in the construction industry, property technology (‘PropTech’) is often touted as a means of tackling Australia's chronic housing shortages. Advocates promise greater efficiency, increased transparency and reduced costs, while critical scholarship highlights how datafication, automation and platformisation can exacerbate and create new vulnerabilities in the housing system.

The integration of AI and digital technologies into different aspects of the housing sector raises complex legal, regulatory and policy issues. These include concerns about automated decision-making and entrenched bias in rental allocation; the impact of data collection and smart devices on privacy and security in the home; the effects of data-driven pricing and tokenised financing models on access and affordability; the use of robotics and automation in construction and workplace safety and compliance; the reliance on predictive analytics for urban and disaster planning; and the application of disability rights and accessibility standards to assistive technologies in the home. These varied concerns play into wider and contentious debates about fairness and tensions between public and private interests in the housing sector. They span multiple, diverse bodies of law, including property, construction, tenancy, consumer, securities, tax, environmental, privacy, discrimination and human rights.

Globally, governments have been slow to recognise and respond to the risks posed by PropTech. As the industry continues to grow, however, it is attracting greater legal scrutiny. This has surfaced fundamental tensions about technological governance, with debates regularly positioning innovation and regulation as competing objectives.  Achieving equitable housing outcomes likely requires striking a deliberate balance between the two – ensuring that technological advancement doesn't outpace the guardrails needed to prevent harms or compound barriers to quality, affordable housing.

Law, Technology and Humans invites submissions for a thematic component of Volume 9(1) on emerging issues at the nexus of housing, technology and law.

Contributors may wish to explore one of the following topics:

• Automated and algorithmic decision-making in the public and private rental sectors, discrimination and bias
• Rentier capitalism, and the platformisation of housing markets
• Smart homes, surveillance, security and privacy
• Real estate tokenisation and regulation
• Robotics and construction law
• AI-driven compliance technologies in housing
• Use of AI in sustainable building construction and management
• Virtual and augmented reality technologies in real estate
• Data-driven personalisation and advertising
• Predictive analytics and disaster management and urban planning
• Assistive technology in the home and disability rights
• Emerging regulation of short-term rental platforms
• Recent reforms to State and Territory residential tenancy legislation
• The human right to adequate housing

These topics are non-exhaustive – contributors are encouraged to submit manuscripts on other topics related to the theme of housing, technology and law. Interdisciplinary, theoretical, empirical and novel methodologies are welcome.

The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2026, with publication expected in April 2027.

Law, Technology and Humans is an open access, no APC journal published by Queensland University of Technology, Australia. The Journal is dedicated to supporting innovative research on law and technology. The Journal’s submission guidelines can be found here: https://lthj.qut.edu.au/about/submissions

Potential contributors are welcome to contact Tegan Cohen (tegan.cohen@qut.edu.au) and Lina Przhedetsky (lina.przhedetsky@unimelb.edu.au) with queries related to this call for submissions. Please contact the Journal for all other queries lawtechhum@qut.edu.au

Please feel free to pass this call on to any colleagues or networks who may be interested in contributing.