The vote for Brexit in the UK in 2016, the rise of far-right leader Marine Le Pen in 2017 in France and the election of Donald Trump in 2016 in the US are signs of significant dissatisfaction with and disconnection from the political order in old, established democracies. This distrust of political institutions has arisen in parallel with a dissatisfaction with and disconnection from place-planning processes. All too often the planning system excludes meaningful input from communities, and is out of step with what these communities actually need and want. It is time to change the way things are done and to bring communities genuinely to the heart of planning and placemaking.

Cities, towns and villages were historically the product of many local hands, as places evolved to suit the economic, social and cultural needs of the community they served. However, the past few decades have seen planning theory and practice move away from creating locally distinctive and responsive places, in favour of delivering an agenda often imposed from outside the community. Planning has become dominated by professionals and politicians, and frequently it becomes adversarial as communities feel alienated, believing they have no real power to influence outcomes. The creativity of communities is a huge but largely untapped resource.

There is, however, a tried-and-tested collaborative planning methodology – the ‘charrette’ – which involves people in shaping the places in which they live. But charrettes are not universally known, and have even been described by some who have experienced them as ‘the best kept secret’.

The charrette approach to planning involves members of the community working alongside local authorities and developers to co-create design-led, visual plans and strategies. It is an inspirational and energising activity where the results of collaboration are seen immediately, with the knowledge that each individual’s input is listened to and actually matters. It also has the potential to speed up the formal design and planning process overall.

The word charrette is French for ‘little cart’. In Paris in the nineteenth century, carts were sent around to collect the final drawings from students for display at École des Beaux-Arts. Students would jump on the carts to complete the presentations right up to the deadline. Today the word has been taken to describe an intensive, collaborative planning process in which designers, the community and others work together to create a vision for a place or development. The concept of placemaking is used as a lens through which to assess issues and propose actions – not just for physical plans, but for social and economic solutions too.

This book explores and promotes the benefits of participatory and democratic planning and placemaking through charrettes. Its timing was inspired by the fiftieth anniversary in 2017 of the first American Institute of Architects (AIA) Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team (R/UDAT). In 1967, in response to a request from the business community in Rapid City, South Dakota, the AIA dispatched a group of architects and planners to work with the local community over a weekend to produce a revitalisation strategy in an early charrette process. Over the last fifty years charrettes have gone on to make a global impact by involving people in a form of participatory democracy – not relying on elected representatives to make decisions on their behalf, but having a direct creative input into and influence on the decisions themselves.

As well as the use of words and numbers, often the sole tools of public debate and decision making, charrettes add the medium of drawing, so vital when discussing and formulating proposals for ‘place’. People are empowered to get on with designing and delivering solutions that are right for their own particular area. Charrettes encourage joined-up thinking and holistic visioning, which in turn can lead to appropriate short-, medium- and long-term actions.

From a professional perspective, charrettes provide an efficient working process that enables design teams to set up their studio in the location of the charrette and focus solely on the project at hand, covering a great deal of ground over a few days. Contact with the community brings local knowledge and creativity into the process, and helps develop plans and solutions that have wide support.

One of the key characteristics of charrettes is flexibility. The case studies in Chapter 5 illustrate the variety of scenarios a charrette can serve, from co-designing flood-protection measures, to masterplanning previously developed, historically sensitive sites, and creating the early vision for a Local Development Plan.

The book begins with a historical overview of the development and use of charrette methodologies, which began in the US and then spread internationally.

The next chapter is an exploration of why charrettes are important, how they achieve holistic outcomes through intensive multiday processes facilitated by a multidisciplinary team, and suggested ways forward for promoting collaborative planning processes.

Charrette processes are given different names and have subtly different methodologies, depending on the practitioners involved and the countries in which they take place. Chapter 3 describes a charrette methodology in order to make clear its fundamental simplicity, but also the need for careful and inclusive organisation. There is information about pre-charrette preparation, and a generic example of a charrette illustrated with images from a real-life charrette. The chapter concludes with a selection of post-charrette follow-on scenarios, all-important in maintaining momentum and continuing community involvement in actually delivering and managing the project. A question John Thompson, a pioneer of Community Planning in the UK, frequently poses is: ‘Who decides, who delivers and who maintains?’

The core of the book focuses on twenty diverse international case studies, which include UK and international examples of charrettes, with some involving JTP and others led by practices from around the world. The case studies explain the historical, social and cultural milieu of the places, the charrette process and the outcomes, with comments from participants interspersed throughout. There is discussion of key themes, and a description of the consensual visions that have resulted from each process.

The book ends with an overview of the key lessons learned from the case studies.

I have had the privilege of meeting and speaking with many people while researching this book. In writing the case studies I have only been able to mention a small number of those involved. People I approached have been unfailingly generous with their time, and in offering useful material. I would like to thank everyone.

The case studies show that charrettes in all their guises have been used as a valuable tool in a wide range of circumstances. The process has inspired and involved large numbers of people in many different countries; it has true global appeal. This book, and the stories within it, should provide a stimulus for collaborative placemaking events, which I believe should be promoted to have the widest possible use, in the greatest number of places.