Full Report - Knight Program in Community Building

3Pay explicit attention to “packaging an agreement” that builds support forlong-term implementation. Incorporating ongoing evaluation of the processduring charrettes would increase satisfaction with the experience and theoutcome in the short-term. Evaluation of the outcome of charrettes wouldlead to long-term improvements in the standard of practice.• Charrette organizers should adopt specific skills from mediators and facilitators,including stakeholder analysis, the use of groundrules, neutral mediation/facilitation,agenda-setting, and consensus-building techniques.Know the playing field. Conduct a thorough stakeholder analysis at the beginningof a project and develop the community outreach plan based on thatanalysis. Revisit the stakeholder analysis throughout the process, especiallyas the scope of the project changes. Have a charrette team member whoseprimary responsibility is to focus on the process.What Can Charrette Practitioners Add to Consensus-Building?Charrettes are a technique that discussion-based mediators and facilitatorsshould 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, ifnot years, and are often tedious and sometimes downright painful.• The large event and spectacle quality of a charrette generates significantmedia interest.• The variety of ways, opportunities and times for people to participate in acharrette opens the door to much broader participation than typical discussion-basedprocesses.