"Authentic. Vibrant. Eclectic." Who's buying the language on residential development hoardings?

Researcher and writer Crystal Bennes studies a familiar sight in Melbourne and cities globally: the design of residential development hoardings. These hoardings, featuring pristine renders and sleek branding, tout covetable, luxury lifestyles (despite the fact that home ownership is increasingly out of reach for many).

They also typically lay a claim to the authenticity of the neighbourhood – the culture of the community that is being displaced. "In this way," says Bennes, "the new development lays claim to the things it has destroyed, and eats their ghosts."

In this interview, she points out that, while any individual hoarding is temporary, hoardings and their aesthetic have become a permanent feature of urban life. How many do you walk past on the way to work? Bennes asks that we stop treating hoardings as mere "construction detritus" and start critiquing them as architecture.

What do these utopian projections for a chosen few say? Who do they benefit, who do they exclude, and to what end?