Fusion of Open Space & Charrette

Chris Macrae Wcbn009 at aol.com
Thu Feb 12 12:36:48 PST 2004


If I am digesting the correspondence correctly,

I can start to feel a kaleidoscopic experience of all my favourite 
explorative tools connecting people's visual sensing with the physical:
Open Space

The Charrette's special competence to keep visual notes of proceedings in 
each of the expert's deliverable formats and in an open way for all participants

Pattern Rules - a human wisdom banking idea from architecture I love

wow if we could get the public talking to architects talking to engineers 
talking to policy makers through such an open train of methods, the environmenst 
we live in could be wholly different

Has anyone tried linking with experts in knowledge-cities and their social 
capitals-
This is a very hot concept emerging in knowledge management, and for some 
reason  KM/SC people seem to get research funds and spaces many of us don't (or 
maybe we dont need the burden of such funds). 

chris macrae

PREVIOUSLY
Most charrette facilitators are architects who have learned their 
"facilitation" skills in the trenches and have no separate training in conflict 
resolution, mediation, facilitation, etc.  I have been trying to bridge the two fields, 
as I think they have a lot to learn from each other. A short essay I wrote 
about this ( Hurley, Jennifer. 2003. "The Public Process and New Urbanism", 
Research Report for the Knight Program in Community Building, University of Miami 
School of Architecture.) is available at 
http://www.hfadesign.com/newsroom/publications.html.  Here's the quick summary:

What Can Charrette Practitioners Learn from Consensus-Building? By learning 
from the experience of mediators and facilitators, charrette organizers could 
leverage the event to create more support for the results of the charrette, 
resulting in more faithful implementation. Key aspects that charrette organizers 
could learn from consensus-building: € A robust theoretical basis for practice 
can inform the understanding of the process and suggest possibilities when 
problems arise. € Situating the charrette event in a larger decision-making 
framework that includes pre-charrette outreach and post-charrette 
consensus-building increases the chances of implementation. € Using the charrette to aid group 
learning and build civic capital would leverage the event to develop local 
leaders who can champion the plan long after the event. € Charrette organizers 
could adopt specific skills from mediators and facilitators, including 
stakeholder analysis, the use of ground rules, neutral mediation/facilitation, 
agenda-setting, and consensus-building techniques.

What Can Charrette Practitioners Add to Consensus-Building?
I have focused this article on describing what I think charrette organizers 
can learn from consensus-building. However, I also believe that charrettes are 
a technique that discussion-based mediators and facilitators should learn
about:
€ Charrettes are a great improvement over discussion-based processes for 
addressing physical and design issues. Words are a cumbersome medium when the 
problem is visual. € The compressed time frame of a charrette creates incredible 
excitement and momentum. In contrast, discussion-based processes can take 
months, if not years, and are often tedious and sometimes downright painful.

The last two points touch on Chris's question:
So that's why I am asking is their a specific charrette focus that olnly 
expert charrette people buld in?

They key is that charrettes have architects, designers, engineers, and other 
technical experts working on site to create a plan using drawings.  There's a 
specific product expected at the end of the week-long charrette.

I think a one- or two-day OS would be a wonderful way to start a charrette 
(perhaps taking the place of more structured "stakeholder" meetings).

Jennifer


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