Urban leadership as change management, do we have the right skills?
What does it take to lead transformational urban change? How do we build the right skills and capabilities across the urban development ecosystem? These are just some of the key questions Studio THI is currently exploring.
Urban change practitioners have to wear a lot of different hats. We need the right technical skills and a deep understanding of the urban development system. We need to be networked and able to navigate and influence the inherently political planning process. We need to be visionary and future-focused to create enduring and sustainable places. We need to be resilient and responsive, pivoting as things change and evolve. We need to be empathetic and understanding of our stakeholders and the communities that we work with to ensure we bring them along the change journey.
So how do we develop these capabilities and build future urban practitioners that can lead sustainable and transformational change?
Learning with and from each other
For emerging practitioners it can be hard to know what exactly skills and experience are needed, who to ask, and how to use those skills and tools, if they don’t have the opportunity to learn from others. Studio THI exists to bring practitioners together to share knowledge, experiences, tools and best-practice solutions to enable everyone to approach sustainable urban change in the most effective way.
In April 2021, we piloted the Urban Leadership Sprint, designed to support emerging practitioners to navigate urban development challenges and experiment and innovate in a safe learning environment. More than 20 participants from across Australia gained a deeper understanding of the urban development system; extended their networks; and bolstered their leadership capabilities. Later this month, we are running our Urban Futures program, a challenge-based workshop designed for high school students interested in learning more about the urban development context.
Some other great programs on offer to support future leaders that we’ve seen include the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) Singapore, which has a series of practitioner-led capability development programs designed to share the insights and principles behind Singapore’s urban transformation, and the need for integrated urban systems.
Closer to home, the University of Queensland (UQ) is focused on sector-wide capabilities and developing a flexible range of skills to enable graduates to succeed in multiple industries and sectors. UQ now offers a Master of Urban Development and Design which enables students to address the design of cities from multiple perspectives and provides an integrated view on how to make places better to live and to work. They have also recently launched a Bachelor of Design; a multidisciplinary program that incorporates elements of business, IT, architecture and humanities programs.
Building a collective approach
For the past 20 years, we have been managing urban change management processes and delivered strategic leadership programs across the sector. What we’ve learned is that the best way to ensure our future practitioners are equipped to lead transformational change is to develop a collective, cross-sector approach. A key focus of the upcoming THI Urban Change Festival is urban leadership. We have enlisted the expertise of academics, practitioners and the private sector professionals who will share their views on how we should be shaping urban practice, now and into the future. During the Building Urban Leaders panel and workshop we will also be exploring the ways in which we can develop these competencies and establish a system-wide collective framework for building our future urban leaders.
The Festival is completely virtual, so you can join from anywhere in the world. For more information about the Building Urban Leaders panel and workshop and to register for the Festival, visit https://events.humanitix.com/urban-change-festival.
