Designing Community : Charrettes, Masterplans and Design-Based Codes

Greenfield sites around towns and cities, and redevelopment infill sites in existing urban areas often become battlegrounds between the conflicting interests of developers and communities. In America, design charrettes (intensive design and planning workshops) have become widely used as a means of bringing together these divergent groups, using detailed design exercises to establish agreement around a development masterplan. Despite the increasing frequency of their use, charrettes are widely misunderstood and can be misapplied. This book provides a detailed guidance on the proper and most effective ways to use this helpful tool. The book combines charrette masterplanning with the creation of "design-based" codes (also known as "form-based" codes) to control the development's implementation in line with the design and planning principles established during the charrette process. * Provides detailed and specific guidance on the management and best use of the increasingly popular, yet complex, public design event * Blends history, theory and practice to paint the full picture of the past, present and possible future of community planning * Shows how to manage the conflict between development, design and planning professionals and community interests inherent in current design and planning practice

David Walters is Professor of Architecture, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA.