Students lead the way in developing community understanding of urban change

Queensland University of Technology students have responded to a challenge from Studio THI to help develop ways to enable and promote community-driven urban change for people living in high-growth areas in Australia.

The task was part of QUT’s School of Design Impact Lab, of which Studio THI is an industry partner.

Now in its fourth year, the Design Impact Lab addresses methods of social impact design.  Students are challenged to think critically and creatively about how design can bring about change.

More than 80 students from visual communication, interaction design, industrial design, interior design, fashion, architecture and landscape architecture disciplines teamed up to address the challenge.

Studio THI CEO Jennifer Michelmore (right) and Senior Strategic Designer Yu Kao (second right) at the QUT School of Design Impact Lab the client interactive at the Kelvin Grove campus.

Studio THI CEO Jennifer Michelmore was delighted by the quality of work presented at the client interactive at QUT in Kelvin Grove.

“I was impressed with how the students had considered Studio THI’s objectives, clearly responded to the brief and stretched our thinking on what was possible with their ideas,’’ she said.

Students developed ideas around specific target audiences, including young people, families and CALD communities.

Some ideas developed during the program included: 

Satellite Social

This fellowship program takes a system view across governments, developers, Studio THI and universities. The students considered the audience and integrated social media and incentive systems to promote and attract young audiences to develop a better understanding of sustainable urban growth. 

#not my problem

A provocative approach to engage with young audiences who may not care about urban development and urban change. This program uses a large-scale QR code display on urban streetscape that link to an online platform for discussion around urban growth. This group also talks about the potential of using it as a platform for the youth council. 

Urban Change Kiosk 

Uses interactive billboards in busy locations of the city to promote discussion in situ. The Kiosk was also designed to be scalable to be used on social media as an in-trim solution. 

“All the presentations were engaging and students were very articulate about their process and the “why” and “how” behind their design decisions. It is also wonderful to see students with different disciplinary skills work together to develop excellent outcomes,” Senior Strategic Designer Yu Kao said after the presentation day.