Full Report - Knight Program in Community Building

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HURLEY | THE PUBLIC PROCESS 13Charrettes typically do a very good job of publicizing the product of the charrette(in consensus-building terms, the agreement). Because of the spectacle of theevent and the short time frame, media interest is high. New Urbanists have revivedthe art of making beautiful plans, and the images developed during the charrettemake good graphics for presentations and publications.Lesson: Facilitators and mediators would benefit from learning about the mediastrategies of New Urbanist charrette practitioners and the power of visual representation.Because of the explicit tie to a legal decision-making process often made duringa consensus-building process, participants recognize that the process is not completewhen the group makes its recommendations; the process is not complete untilthe legal decision-makers act. Often, participants in a consensus-building processcare so strongly about the outcome that they place political pressure on the legaldecision-makers to adopt the group’s recommendations. They become the proponentsof the recommendations, and fight all of the small battles that appear.Monitoring the actions that participants agreed to take is often an explicit partof the consensus-building process. Individuals must act, and the consensus-buildinggroup monitors those actions to make sure their intent is followed. As problemsarise, the participants re-negotiate their agreements. For a charrette to be fullysuccessful, local people must monitor the implementation actions of governmentagencies and private interests.Lesson: By adopting some of the practices of mediators and facilitators, charretteorganizers could leverage the charrette process to create and energize local leaderswho will fight for the plan long after the charrette is over.Step 4: EvaluationDrawing on insights from adult education, mediators and facilitators includeevaluation of the process as part of standard practice. Evaluation of the process inan ongoing way has several benefits:• It models a new way of working together, one that encourages self-reflectionand continual improvement• It signals to people that they can disagree or provide criticism• It gives people another chance to be heard• It provides the facilitator, in a short feedback loop, with input about theprocess, which can act as an “early warning system” to make the facilitatoraware of problems
HURLEY | THE PUBLIC PROCESS 14In addition, because dissatisfaction with costs and outcomes of the legal systemled to the development of public policy mediation, there has been significantattention, both from academics and practitioners, to evaluating the outcomes ofconsensus-building processes. These evaluations have provided useful insight intowhat works and what doesn’t, and have added to improvement of the practice.Lesson: Incorporating ongoing evaluation of the process during charrettes wouldincrease satisfaction with the experience in the short-term. Evaluation of the outcomeof charrettes would lead to long-term improvements in the standard of practice.What Can Charrette Practitioners Learn from Consensus-Building?By learning from the experience of mediators and facilitators, charrette organizerscould leverage the event to create more support for the results of the charrette,resulting in more faithful implementation. Key aspects that charrette organizerscould learn from consensus-building:• A robust theoretical basis for practice can inform the understanding of theprocess and suggest possibilities when problems arise.• Situating the charrette event in a larger decision-making framework thatincludes pre-charrette outreach and post-charrette consensus-buildingincreases the chances of implementation.• Using the charrette to aid group learning and build civic capital wouldleverage the event to develop local leaders who can champion the planlong after the event.Charrette organizers could adopt specific skills from mediators and facilitators,including stakeholder analysis, the use of ground rules, neutral mediation/facilitation,agenda-setting, and consensus-building techniques.What Can Charrette Practitioners Add to Consensus-Building?I have focused this article on describing what I think charrette organizerscan learn from consensus-building. However, I also believe that charrettes are atechnique that discussion-based mediators and facilitators should learn about:• Charrettes are a great improvement over discussion-based processes foraddressing physical and design issues. Words are a cumbersome mediumwhen the problem is visual.• The compressed time frame of a charrette creates incredible excitement andmomentum. In contrast, discussion-based processes can take months, if notyears, and are often tedious and sometimes downright painful.
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Full Report - Knight Program in Community Building

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