What is a Charrette?

A charrette is a cooperative effort involving several days of intensive working sessions. Charrettes seek to build consensus from the start, allowing all involved to collaborate and work toward a common goal. By offering a hands-on experience, the opportunity for differing viewpoints to connect, and abbreviated feedback loops, prompt identification of issues is achieved and the resolution of them comes early in the process. The charrette also provides an educational opportunity for all who participate in it.

Charrettes produce invaluable information for the consultant team while enabling the community to witness how much consensus exists for the key issues, all in a constructive format. Stakeholder involvement makes the adoption and implementation of new zoning more feasible than without their feedback.