3Pay explicit attention to “packag<strong>in</strong>g an agreement” that builds support forlong-term implementation. Incorporat<strong>in</strong>g ongo<strong>in</strong>g evaluation of the processdur<strong>in</strong>g charrettes would <strong>in</strong>crease satisfaction with the experience and theoutcome <strong>in</strong> the short-term. Evaluation of the outcome of charrettes wouldlead to long-term improvements <strong>in</strong> the standard of practice.• Charrette organizers should adopt specific skills from mediators and facilitators,<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g stakeholder analysis, the use of groundrules, neutral mediation/facilitation,agenda-sett<strong>in</strong>g, and consensus-build<strong>in</strong>g techniques.Know the play<strong>in</strong>g field. Conduct a thorough stakeholder analysis at the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gof 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-Build<strong>in</strong>g?Charrettes are a technique that discussion-based mediators and facilitatorsshould learn about.• Charrettes are a great improvement over discussion-based processes foraddress<strong>in</strong>g physical and design issues. Words are a cumbersome mediumwhen the problem is visual.• The compressed time frame of a charrette creates <strong>in</strong>credible excitement andmomentum. In contrast, discussion-based processes can take months, ifnot years, and are often tedious and sometimes downright pa<strong>in</strong>ful.• The large event and spectacle quality of a charrette generates significantmedia <strong>in</strong>terest.• The variety of ways, opportunities and times for people to participate <strong>in</strong> acharrette opens the door to much broader participation than typical discussion-basedprocesses.
4The Public Process and New UrbanismBy Jennifer Hurley | 2001 <strong>Knight</strong> <strong>Program</strong> FellowThe term “public process” is a catch phrase that refers to a variety of contexts<strong>in</strong> which the public participates <strong>in</strong> plann<strong>in</strong>g and development decisions: publichear<strong>in</strong>gs with plann<strong>in</strong>g commissions, zon<strong>in</strong>g boards, and city councils; citizen taskforces; and urban design charrettes. In try<strong>in</strong>g to implement New Urban plann<strong>in</strong>gand development projects, New Urbanists frequently encounter problems generatedby the public process and these problems can be a source of a great deal of frustration.Of course, the public process is not the only situation that has presented obstaclesto New Urbanists, who have developed a methodology for deal<strong>in</strong>g with obstacles:co-opt specialized fields, look to history, and develop new solutions. I suggest thatthe problems of the “public process” simply pose additional arenas <strong>in</strong> which NewUrban generalists must become knowledgeable: community organiz<strong>in</strong>g, politicaladvocacy, adult education, and dispute resolution.When New Urbanists had trouble gett<strong>in</strong>g good places built because of rules bytraffic eng<strong>in</strong>eers, they learned basic traffic eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g, found sympathetic trafficeng<strong>in</strong>eers to become New Urban road design experts, and re-wrote the standards.When New Urbanists were disappo<strong>in</strong>ted <strong>in</strong> the quality of built places, they looked tohistory and renewed the practice of us<strong>in</strong>g pattern books to guide builders. Whenmunicipal officials refused to approve New Urban developments because they didnot meet zon<strong>in</strong>g codes, New Urbanists developed entirely new k<strong>in</strong>ds of codes.It is time once aga<strong>in</strong> to turn to these methods. New Urbanists must learn thebasics of community organiz<strong>in</strong>g, adult education, and dispute resolution. We mustanalyze historical examples of political change for clues about how to be effective.We must f<strong>in</strong>d allies amongst the specialists <strong>in</strong> community organiz<strong>in</strong>g and publicparticipation, and teach them about urban design and charrette methods. And oncewe have used these time-tested methods, we will be able to develop creative newapproaches to this problem.Consensus-Build<strong>in</strong>g and New UrbanismTo help us down this path, this report shares some of what I know about publicparticipation and alternative dispute resolution, discuss<strong>in</strong>g what New Urbanists canlearn from specialists <strong>in</strong> this field, and what New Urbanists have to teach thosesame specialists.