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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