Bringing communities along on the urban change journey is critical to the future sustainability of our cities.
Literacy, Citizenship, Trust & Leadership
We believe developing knowledge and leadership around urban change is the key to delivering enduring and lovable cities.
Our approach is different and underpinned by a simple hypothesis:
Communities who are aware and have knowledge about why and how change takes place (urban change literacy) are more supportive of change
Individuals who can navigate their preferences, the needs of others and their city’s sustainability (urban citizenship) are more supportive of change.
Communities who think that governments and developers are acting responsibly and are capable (trust) are more supportive of change.
Individuals who have a broad understanding of transition leadership, co-creation methods and are able to lead innovative responses to the challenges and opportunities of urban transition (urban change leadership) are critical for success
Why it matters
Community trust around urban transition is at an all time low. Government officers and developers are often in conflict with communities and anti-growth political platforms are gaining traction.
The rate of urban change is significant. Over the next 20 years, Australia’s east coast capital city regions are forecast to grow by 6.1 million people. That’s the equivalent of another Sydney.
The status quo will not get us to where we want to go. Step-change urban regeneration projects are increasingly being viewed as high risk - politically, financially and reputationally.
Our NFP objects.
As a registered not-for-profit organisation we:
Undertake education, research and development projects to find practical solutions to urban design problems
Apply the knowledge and resource of the company to improve the quality of the lives and environments of individuals and their communities
Provide information to, and educate, individuals and their communities in the creative development and management of the built environment
Support individuals and communities to acquire job skills in order to establish themselves and become self-supporting
Our values.
Our values have become engrained over 20 years in practice and provide the foundation for everything we do.
We believe that everyone deserves to have access to great places to live, learn, work and play.
We believe that every place can be extraordinary, regardless of location or size.
We believe that great places arise from engaging and listening to communities.
We believe in being bold and pushing for change and innovation that can enhance our lives.
We believe that collaboration and knowledge sharing can enable us to solve urban challenges.
We believe in grounding practice with rigorous, practical and relevant research.
Our history.
The Hornery Institute (now trading as Studio THI) – was founded in 2001 by Stuart Hornery.
Stuart had an unwavering commitment to creating a more equitable society and throughout his life, he used his influence to make a practical difference to communities and to promote grassroots involvement in development; an ideology still embraced by the organisation today.
Over the past 20 years, our practice has been focused on helping our clients – government, private sector and the community – to create a vision and develop a strategy for urban development that puts people first and maximises social and economic benefits. Our work has encompassed strategic place making; community and stakeholder engagement; organisational resilience and capability training; community research and insights; and incorporating skills and employment programs into large-scale projects.