Design Charrette: A Vehicle for Consultation or Collaboration?

Abstract

As a model of participation and creativity, the design charrette has huge potential for reshaping the engagement of design professionals and the dynamic processes available to businesses and organisations seeking ongoing innovation. Design charrettes in their current form largely remain the preserve of design firms, used both for internal project analysis and synthesis of large volumes of complex information. Charrettes are most often used as a consultant tool for engaging the community in participatory workshops on potentially controversial developments. Taking the format of charrette as developed in the field of planning and urban design, this paper will reflect on the enquiry by design process and explore the potential of stimulating innovation through drawing as a way of collaborating with stakeholders outside of the key design professions. Development, facilitation and analysis of a student workshop explores abstracted principles of a design charrette and indicates possibilities for more open, inclusive and holistic engagement between design professionals as consultants and others as collaborators.