Charrettes for Community Planning

Achieving true citizen participation in community planning is always a challenge. Public hearings often are dominated by citizens who are opposed to a proposal. NIMBYs often have legitimate concerns, but the existing formats for citizen input often encourage only negative reactions rather than constructive suggestions on how a community should grow.  To address the need for a better participation process, communities and developers are turning to the charrette, a multi-day intensive planning workshop that includes all stakeholders in a community and results in a plan that can be implemented and built. 

Resources

NCI Charrette System: Stories of Community Transformation -  The National Charrette Institute has produced a DVD that explains how charrettes are used to engage a community in planning for its future and takes you to actual charrettes where you hear what participants in the charrette, as well as elected officials from those communities, have to say about the process. The DVD contains the full 34-minute program, as well as a 13-minute overview. NCI is making a limited number of these DVDs available for free to NAR through the smart growth page on realtor.org.  To obtain your free DVD, go to the NCI website and enter the coupon code: DVDFREE1.

Meaningful Public Involvement: Charrettes for Sustainable Communities-  This is a  presentation that was produced for the National Association of REALTORS® by the National Charrette Institute.  It can be used for self-instruction, or as a presentation to a REALTOR® association or community group.  It includes a slides and a script, describes charrettes and explains how they can be used to improve the planning process in your community.

If you have additional questions about the Charrettes program, please contact:

Joe Molinaro
Manager, Smart Growth Programs
National Association of REALTORS®
500 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001-4507
Phone: 202/383-1175
Fax: 202/383-7580
E-mail: jmolinaro@realtors.org

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