A Design Charrette is an intensive, hands-on workshop that brings people from different disciplines and backgrounds together with members of the community to explore design options for a particular area.
Design Charrettes are public workshops that include community members, design professionals, and other project staff. They are a fun and innovative way to engage the public, especially in projects where there is a significant landscape, streetscape, or other interesting design element. The goal of the Charette process is to capture the vision, values, and ideas of the community - with designers sketching these on to the Charette to create ideas about the future as fast as they can be generated by the participants.
Design Charrettes can take place in a single session or be spread out among two or three workshops. Charrettes are a good way to build positive enthusiasm and energy for your project and, at the same time, be responsive to the creativity of the community.' (Source: http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org).
• Anyone can participate although the process also relies on working with professional designers, planners or architects.
• The cost will depend on how many meetings take place and whether the professional designers charge for their time.
Approximate time expense
The workshops can be completed in three to five sessions.
• It is a creative and dynamic process.
• Encourages collaboration between groups that would not traditionally work together in a planning process.
• Allows a number of different options and scenarios to be explored - Gives designers insights into a community's needs and values they may not otherwise get.
• Gives citizens the opportunity to be directly involved in designing solutions for their local area.
• Can raise unrealistic expectations about what will happen when the process finishes. Facilitators and organisers must take care to explain what they are committing to and what the scope for change is.
• May be dominated by experts.
According to the US National Charrette Institute, 'the French word, "charrette" means "cart" and is often used to describe the final, intense work effort expended by art and architecture students to meet a project deadline. This use of the term is said to originate from the cole des Beaux Arts in Paris during the 19th century, where proctors circulated a cart, or "charrette", to collect final drawings while students frantically put finishing touches on their work.'
Image by Eric R. Bishoff.
Gather informed and considered opinions (deliberation)
Generate new ideas (innovation)
Create a shared vision amongst participants
Make a direct decision
Number of participants
Self selected participants attending as individuals (open access process)
Representatives of wider interest groups (stakeholders)
Crime and justice
Culture and arts
Environment and climate change
Health and well-being
Housing and Planning
Science and technology
Limit search to...
... face to face processes
Level of involvement
Children and young people
Ethnic minority groups
Groups with low levels of literacy/confidence
People with learning difficulties