Workshop EC 7, Thursday 22 June, 11.00 - 12.30 (to be continued in workshop EC 8.1)

Charette, part 1

Peter Lagerwey, City of Seattle, WA, USA Cara Seiderman, City of Cambridge, MA, USA Stuart Goldsmith, City of Seattle, WA, USA Conducting a successful Charrette; an American model for creating bicycle friendly communities Note: This session is an intensive (and fun) workshop where participants will be expected to stay for both parts (with optional field work during the in-between lunch break). The session is limited to 45 participants on a first-come-first-served basis. Who should attend People interested in learning how to use the "Charrette" as a tool for finding common ground in order to build ongoing community support and ownership for creating livable (bikable & walkable) communities. The session will be of particular interest to town planners, community activists and consultants interested in learning the latest techniques for conducting successful charrettes. Description The charrette is a powerful consensus building exercise that brings citizens, elected officials and professionals together to resolve technical and political issues. In recent years, the charrette has become a popular, successful tool for creating community plans and "streets that work" in the United States. Participants attending this workshop will learn how conduct a successful charrette in this hands-on workshop. The approach will be to teach the charrette process by having participants actually participate in resolving a set of local design issues. The focus, however, is to learn the process - the design issues are secondary. By the end of this two-part session, participants will have the tools and skills to organize their own charrettes. Some of the "deliverables" that participants will receive include: * Stakeholders - who should participate * Five day agenda for a comprehensive charrette * How to run successful focus groups * How to organize a community design session * Work products to be delivered at the end of a charrette * List of services, facilities and products to be delivered by the community * How to create a successful charrette team - skills etc. In order to make the session more realistic, participants will be asked to role play by participating in a focus group and a design session. The topic selected is one that is typical to communities in many countries: how to redesign a commercial street to promote bicycling and walking while promoting economic vitality. This presentation is made with the acknowledgement that there are many ways to conduct a successful charrette. This is "an" approach, not "the" approach. Participants will be encouraged to adapt the charrette process to fit their own local situations.