Urban change leadership: Why community readiness beats selling change
When planning and implementing significant urban changes in our cities and towns, it's common during consultation to encounter indifference, confusion or resistance from community members and key stakeholders.
Change leaders may read this as a sign of a challenging and drawn-out engagement process, resulting in discarded plans, upset elected officials and frustrated communities.
The sector’s current approach to involving communities in urban change is often through public information and engagement programs, implemented late in the planning process and usually focused on gaining community views on proposed growth strategies or specific planning schemes.
This approach informs the people who know about the extent of proposed changes but misses an opportunity to understand the sentiment of the broader community.
Studio THI’s research, conducted with a more representative group of 1,100 people living in high-growth cities across Australia, has found many people in the community are not against urban change but are simply unaware of the extent of change planned for their area, have a low level of ownership of the challenges involved and limited understanding of solutions.
The research also found that communities are more supportive of urban consolidation and increasing density when they have an increased understanding of the issues associated with more sustainable urban growth.
Communities are more supportive of urban consolidation when they have an increased understanding of the issues associated with sustainable urban growth.
“If you don’t have an understanding of the projected population growth and the impacts of a business-as-usual approach it is impossible to even understand any need for change,” says Peter Browning, Urban Transition Lead at Studio THI.
“When leading communities through change, we can only start with where people are. The problem is that we plan change without knowing what people's awareness or understanding of change is.”
Studio THI research shows that presenting solutions without ownership of the problem is unhelpful.
“This is a recipe for causing anxiety and distrust,” says Peter. “The sector tends to rely on consultation or personal interactions rather than solid research to give us a picture of community sentiment and culture.”
While consultation is often a statutory requirement it cannot be relied on as evidence, as many groups simply do not participate.
“And the ones that do participate are often the ones on the phone to council and councillors,” Peter says.
In addition, during consultation, community members may not have the space to develop an understanding of the issues or address them in ways that align with their beliefs.
Consultation can struggle to explore values, reactions to change, contradictions of living in a community, individual preferences and urban challenges.
Shifting the dial
So, how can urban change leaders work with communities to increase their understanding and capability to navigate change?
“It requires a shift from communicating and testing responses to urban plans, to equipping people to explore their values and provide the knowledge to navigate change,’’ Peter says.
“It’s got to start with research and education. It actually doesn’t need a lot of education for people to quickly develop a deeper understanding and align their values.’’
“Research and education must be with a demographic sample of the community and should explore the drivers of change and problems associated with business-as-usual, the range of real solutions, challenges and benefits of transition. ”
Most community members can identify how they and the wider community can benefit from urban change.
The outcomes of Studio THI’s approach is demonstrating that most people can identify:
How the urban system works.
Why a particular area is suitable for sustainable growth
How they, as a community member, and the wider community can benefit from urban change
Increased density as Sensible or Sensible but Challenging
Support for the benefits of a 20-minute neighbourhood
Challenges to be addressed and benefits to be optimised
A preference for urban consolidation if it improves lifestyle, urban equity and sustainability
With a clear understanding of how different groups understand the requirements for more sustainable development, leaders can implement a range of programs to increase stakeholders to act as informed citizens.
Urban Change Leadership training
Studio THI has developed comprehensive Urban Transition Leadership training resources to support agencies in planning and implementing change management strategies.
These interactive sessions suit local and state government managers, urban and community planners, private sector development directors, community engagement and elected officials. The aim is to increase skills and knowledge required to lead urban and community change. The programs include understanding urban systems, developing and implementing transition strategies, leading community change and navigating politics. The workshops can all be tailored to any organisation’s specific needs and used to test individual or agency approaches to change, assess change-ready requirements, and identify initiatives that will increase capacity.
Find out more about the workshops or call us at 0447 246 063 to schedule a session for your team.
