Since most strata businesses shut down for the Xmas and New Year period, very few strata meetings are held, there are no seminars, webinars, forums, live chats, etc to join and strata citizens are focused on time-wasting things like family, friends and fun, you might need to something strata to occupy yourself with.
So, here’s a short Xmas reading list of my favourites.
First, there’s NSW Fair Tradin’s latest and now up to date and accurate version of Strata Living; its guide to the essentials for strata owners. A short and punchy story of life in a strata building that makes it look so simple.
Second, there’s also the 2012 Report by UNSW City Futures called Governing the Compact City which was the first and only major study of the strata sector undertaken in Australia on the key issues facing the governance and management of strata buildings. It’s an old and largely forgotten tale that foretold the future many strata citizens are now living. It’s long so can also fill a few lazy days.
Third, there’s 1975 dystopian novel by JG Ballard called Highrise that describes the disintegration of a luxury high-rise building as its affluent residents gradually descend into violent chaos. It’s strata horror and tragedy rather than uplifting, if that’s more to you darker tastes. Or, you could watch the film version with the dreamy Tom Hiddleston.
Fourth, there’s the short, but legalistic, 2021 article by Gary Bugden OAM called Strata Managers as Fiduciaries that tells the classic moral fable of a young, innocent and naïve strata manager’s adventures in strata land and their epic journey from rogue to king as they learn to choose between short term opportunism and long term greatness on their way to success.
I’ll be rereading them myself in readiness for the fun and adventures that 2025 will bring.
