Apartments are the new houses for a growing number of Australians. Housing affordability, aging, environmental issues, immigration and shrinking household formation patterns are driving this shift. Apartments are now the dominant form of new housing in many of our capital cities. In a little under 20 years over half of Sydney's population will live in apartments. In other cities the trend will be the same. The legal concept of strata title was invented just over 50 years ago as a means of conveniently financing separately-owned flats with common property and facilities. Since then increasingly complex laws have been developed to accommodate increasingly complex buildings, many of which now incorporate a mix of uses. Strata residents and investors should read this book. Ownership of strata property brings with it certain obligations and responsibilities unique to this form of housing. Not least is the requirement to be part of an owners corporation (known also as a body corporate), a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers from within the strata community concerned. Growing Up is a thought-provoking and entertaining book about ownership of strata property and living in high-rise, and higher density apartments and townhouses.