Housing reform can start with more informed communities

Community sentiment around development is one of the biggest hurdles facing the Queensland Government as it prepares to implement the recommendations from the Queensland Housing Summit held late on 2022.

The rate of urban growth is significant in Queensland, as it is across Australia.

The Planning Institute of Australia’s submission to the Housing Summit shows the magnitude of the growth in Queensland. It also points to the need for more housing diversity to meet the growing challenge of adequately accommodating our community.

 “The delivery of a wider range of dwelling styles and densities would better meet the needs of different household types – including students, young families, professionals, retirees, and those with disabilities,” argues PIA.

What does more density mean for communities?

There is little doubt the need for more housing, specifically more diverse housing, in our major and regional cities.   Often, however, the community is left floundering to understand exactly what this density means for their neighbourhoods and way of life.

Studio THI’s recent urban change awareness research, which involved more than 500 residents of high-growth urban communities across three states, has consistently found that our current public consultation processes are not adequately preparing our communities to participate in the challenges and opportunities of urban growth. 

The research, which sought to understand how ‘change ready’ our high-growth communities are to be part of the urban change process,  revealed that we have a major urban change awareness issue.

Compounding this is the fact that 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.

We found that 47% of people we surveyed are anxious about urban change.

If we are going to foster the necessary changes over the next 20 years we need to invest in building informed communities today, so we have an asset to lead the transformation of our cities tomorrow.

We need to invest in building informed communities

Studio THI is already working with the state and local governments, peak bodies and other organisations and developers to co-design tools and materials to help improve community understanding of urban change.

We have developed and piloted a step-change approach to community preparedness that recorded a 36% positive shift in support for urban change and increased community desire to participate in the transition journey.

Our tools and programs support organisations and practitioners to better prepare their communities to participate in the urban transition journey, specifically seeking to build their urban change literacy, citizenship and confidence in the change actors.

Studio THI recently worked with 15 councillors representing communities undergoing change across Australia.

The program helped councillors consolidate their knowledge of sustainable urban development and worked to co-create practical tools to lead their community through urban change.

All Studio THI programs are founded on extensive experience in supporting communities through urban transitions and theoretical models of behavioural change, organisational trust and change management.

Studio THI’s community preparedness tools and programs include: 

TOOLS TO UNDERSTAND AND PLAN

• Urban Change Readiness Index: Community research and engagement framework identifies community awareness, knowledge and sentiment towards change, place re-attachment opportunities, and system trust. 

• Urban Transition Strategy Development: A growing suite of tools and resources that support practitioners to develop a spectrum of integrated corporate responses to urban and community transition.

PROGRAMS TO BUILD CAPACITY

• Transition Leadership Training: Capacity-building programs to develop the transition leadership skills of practitioners and elected members and to shape innovative responses to the challenges and opportunities of urban change. 

• Future Shapers Program: A community education resource that builds the urban change knowledge and literacy of people living in high-growth communities and can be specifically tailored to address the strategic growth themes of a city and the specific literacy gaps of a community. 

Get in touch if you’d like us to lead your next Urban Change program or just to learn more about what we do!