Charrettes & Community Connections
By: J. David Chapman/January 12, 2023
Developers must consider the impact of their projects on the community. Some developers will coordinate meetings called community connections to get community feedback. Prudent developers go a step further and actually allow the community to participate in the design. One tool used by city planners and developers is called a design charrette. This tool is even more important to those receiving monies from banks, government organizations in the way of tax increment finance, or opportunity zone tax relief projects.
The term “charrette” is derived from the French word for “little cart.” In Paris during the 19th century, professors at the Ecole de Beaux Arts circulated with little carts to collect final drawings from their students. Students would jump on the “charrette” to put finishing touches on their presentations minutes before the deadline.
Today, a charrette is an intensive planning session where citizens, designers, architects, developers, and real estate professionals collaborate on a vison for the development. It is a forum for ideas and offers the unique advantage of giving immediate feedback to the designers.
Developer Matthew Myers used this collaborative technique to design the future site of the Lark, an innovative pocket neighborhood that is very dependent upon community shared amenities. According to Myers, the charrette was essential and several key elements of the master plan came from the process. Participants who attended the charrette can go there today and feel as though they were a part of the process and hold a vested interest in the project.
Many charrettes consist of working office space for participants complete with computers, printers, drafting equipment, and supplies. Formal and informal meetings are held throughout the event and updates to the plan are presented periodically.
Goals for the process include giving stakeholders a voice in the vision, giving the design team a set of finished documents that address all aspects of the design, avoiding delays encountered with conventional planning methods, and producing a more efficient and cost-effective collaborative process. The key is getting the community to show up and voice its opinion. It is also important to have the correct decision-makers there to inform participants of the possibilities. After all, the purpose of the charette is to give all the participants enough information to make good decisions during the planning process to make a successful development.
J. David Chapman is a professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma(jchapman7@uco.edu).
