NCI CHARRETTE SYSTEM GUIDE FOR TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT

National Charrette Institute • Bill Lennertz and Aarin Lutzenhiser

Reconnecting America • Catherine Cox Blair and Jeffrey Wood Kara Wilbur

March 2013

Created through a cooperative agreement with the Federal Transit Administration

Cover photo: Reconnecting America

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 1

THE NCI CHARRETTE SYSTEM™ OVERVIEW Phase 1: Research, Education and Charrette Preparation 4 Phase 2: The Charrette 4 Phase 3: Plan Adoption 6 Why use the NCI Charrette System™ for TOD? 6 How much do charrettes cost? 9

APPLYING THE NCI CHARRETTE SYSTEM TO YOUR TOD PROJECT Charrette System Phase 1: Research, Education and Charrette Preparation 10 Charrette System Phase 2: The Charrette 22 Charrette System Phase 3: Plan Adoption 27

TOD CASE STUDIES 29 Downtown Kendall 30 Contra Costa Centre Transit Village 35 Lauderdale Lakes Charrette 39 Liberty Harbor North 43

HIGH-TECH PLANNING TOOLS 48 INDEX 50 CommunityViz™ 51 MetroQuest 52 Envision Tomorrow 53 iPLACE3s 54 Autodesk 55 Visual Nature Studio 56 SketchUp 57 Photo Simulations 58 TOD RESOURCES 59

INTRODUCTION

In cities and regions across the country, people Many people still fear that broad collaboration only leads to endless meetings and are increasingly leveraging public investment in transit to build sustainable, equitable long, expensive project time lines without anything ever getting built. How can communities. This development approach is collaboration be managed to create success for all stakeholders involved in the commonly called transit oriented development (TOD). TOD is typically defined as more compact project process? development within easy walking distance of transit stations (typically one half mile) that housing, retail, community services, and public by-step holistic, collaborative process that results contains a mix of uses such as housing, jobs, open space within close proximity. Adding to in the adoption of a plan, leading to project shops, restaurants and entertainment. TOD the development complexity, transit agencies, implementation. This process, tailored herein is really about creating walkable, sustainable commonly, can only lease their land, creating for TOD projects, is called the NCI Charrette communities for people of all ages and incomes a challenge for home ownership. In addition, System™. Benefits of this process include that it and providing more transportation and housing proposed TODs are often located adjacent to or saves time and money through compressed work choices, such as townhomes, apartments, live- within existing neighborhoods, many of which sessions and short feedback loops and increases work spaces, and lofts. These communities are wary of potential disruptions related to traffic probability for implementation through an support a lifestyle that is convenient, affordable and potential gentrification and affordability integrated team design approach that includes all and active, and create places where children can issues. How can the sponsors of a TOD navigate decision makers. In this document we will present play and elders can age comfortably. this challenging gauntlet and create a project that the NCI Charrette System™ for TOD phase-by- positively transforms the community? phase, show several TOD case studies that were designed using a charrette, and review a selection Increasingly, project leaders are realizing that the of high-tech planning tools that can be especially best way to achieve a successful built project is useful during charrettes. for all of the various parties involved in a TOD to work collaboratively. However, many people still Charrettes are different than other types of fear that broad collaboration only leads to endless public design workshops. According to the meetings and long, expensive project time lines National Charrette Institute (NCI), a charrette is a without anything ever getting built. How can collaborative design event lasting five to seven collaboration be managed to create success for all days. A charrette fosters community ownership stakeholders involved in the project process? of a project by including stakeholders before the Urban Advantage start of design and maintaining inclusion in the This guide describes a proven solution and is process going forward throughout the evolution Contra Costa Transit Village designed by charrette written for anyone actively involved in a transit of the plan for the TOD. During a charrette, a However, planning and building TOD can oriented development project. Its purpose is to multidisciplinary charrette team consisting of be complicated. It involves a large number show how everyone involved in a TOD project, consultants and sponsor staff produce a physical of people and information variables. TODs from the project sponsor to the community-at- community plan and necessary policies. This is propose to bring together an array of transit large, can work together to produce an exemplar done in close consultation with the community and transportation modes, a mix of land uses, project in a timely manner. It describes a step- through a series of feedback sessions. The goal

Introduction 1 of the charrette is to create a feasible plan WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST that will require minimal rework through CHALLENGES TO USING A approvals and implementation. This requires CHARRETTE? careful charrette preparation that assures that all the right data and all the right people are Gaining and maintaining commitment to involved in the charrette feedback sessions. engage the whole community. Key to the NCI Charrette System™ is the Long-term project success is dependent on gaining careful orchestration of a series of feedback/ support from everyone involved- community members, staff, and elected officials. This National Charrette Institute review sessions, or feedback loops, wherein Community members working together at a charrette in requires a special effort that begins early and all interested parties are involved at key Memphis, TN extends throughout the life of a project. Public decision-making points. Involvement in these involvement is commonly challenged by budget Stakeholder Analysis described on page 12 is the feedback loops, accomplished through public constraints, and is often the first task to undergo first step toward identifying these wins and the meetings, workshops and open houses, cuts. Charrettes have a solid track record, but strategies for engaging everyone who is key to promotes understanding, involvement and only when all community viewpoints are present. project success. ownership of the TOD plan by all charrette It is crucial to resist the pressure to cut funding participants. for this effort. Successful charrettes require a Communicating the value of the multiple- comprehensive public involvement plan to day charrette. Throughout this document we refer to a ensure the maximum support for the plan by all The term “charrette” is commonly used to “project sponsor,” meaning those who fund stakeholders. describe a variety of processes, many of them and manage the project. Typical transit lasting only a few days or even hours. A NCI oriented development project sponsors are Gaining the participation of elected charrette involves the entire community and one of, or a partnership among, the following: officials and other decision makers. seeks to create a detailed, feasible plan complete transit agencies, local planning agencies, Charrette projects build support every step of with implementation strategies and actions. regional planning agencies, developers, the way through early and frequent stakeholder Based on decades of experience and case community-based organizations. In a typical involvement. Decision makers are key to the study research, NCI has found that this level project, the sponsor hires consultants to plan success of this process. People in executive of work cannot be accomplished in less than level positions sometimes choose to maintain five days. It may take some education to assure and run the process. More often than not, the a political distance from a charrette. There are that the project sponsor, primary stakeholders, lead consultant is a planning or architectural various strategies to engage these important and community members have a shared firm that contracts with a set of sub- individuals including peer-to-peer education. understanding of the process and purpose of the consultants who provide expertise in such The same strategy holds as for other stakeholders charrette. For more information about charrette areas as stakeholder outreach, economics, in that they must see a potential “win” in order education including training and resources, see transportation, and the environment. for them to make it a priority to participate. The www.charretteinstitute.org.

2 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development Introduction Describing the process when the term as members of the project team. Otherwise, “charrette” is tainted. prospective developers can take an advisory role. ­ In some circumstances it may wise use a term other than “charrette” to describe the process. Some communities have had unsatisfactory experiences with poor process, inaccurately called a charrette. In this case, in which the word is tainted, another term such as “public design workshop” should be used. Although the word “charrette” is usually a good marketing term that can grab people’s interest, in some places it may also be a distraction. The term is less important than using the right process.

Coordinating the charrette with the official approval process. Although the ideal is for a charrette and the formal approval process to happen together, they are usually separate processes. In this case it is important that the charrette address all design issues and key agreements that will be part of the official approval process. With these agreements, and with the community’s support, the approval process should proceed smoothly.

Managing the inclusion of a developer in public agency sponsored charrettes. There can be an advantage to including a prospective developer in a charrette. Developers bring a reality check for feasibility to the project. However it can be a sensitive issue for a public agency to include a developer. In the case in which the developer has been formally selected to do the project they should be full participants

Introduction 3 THE NCI CHARRETTE SYSTEM™ OVERVIEW

The NCI Charrette System™ is a three-phase, The goals of phase one are to: • Project assessment includes the accelerated, collaborative project management identification of the guiding principles, process during which a multiple-day charrette • ­ Gain a shared agreement between project project objectives, key stakeholders and is held as the central transformative event. It sponsors regarding the project purpose and charrette goals. is a systemized yet flexible approach designed process to assure that the right people and the right • The organization tasks are focused on the information are available at the key decision • ­ Identify and involve agency and community creation of a project roadmap that charts the making moments in project planning. The three viewpoints main tasks, schedule and responsibilities for phases of the NCI Charrette System™ are (1) the the entire project. • ­ Gather necessary base data Research, Education and Charrette Preparation • Base data tasks assure that all relevant phase, (2) the Charrette, and (3) the Plan Adoption • ­ Create a positive political environment analysis and information is available to the phase. team during the charrette. Any shortcoming • ­ Complete charrette logistics preparation in this area may compromise design PHASE 1: RESEARCH, EDUCATION accuracy that can result in costly rework and AND CHARRETTE PREPARATION Phase one consists of everything that must a waste of limited resources. Phase one commences a project and can last be done before a charrette begins. This work • Education and outreach assure that anywhere from 6 weeks to 9 months on average, includes project assessment, organization, everyone involved in the project has a depending on the political and/or technical base data research and analysis, education, and shared understanding of the project purpose complexity of the project. logistical arrangements. and process. This begins with the core project team and extends to project partners and community members. Education also involves the sharing of values and needs of NCI Charrette System Phases all stakeholders.

• Charrette logistics include all arrangements for the charrette team, the charrette venue, or studio, and charrette schedule activities.

Research, Education & Charrette Plan Adoption PHASE 2: THE CHARRETTE Charrette Preparation (5 to 7 days) The charrette is the creative, transformative (6 weeks to 9 months) (2+ months) event of the NCI Charrette System™. It occurs after the completion of the Research, Education and Charrette Preparation phase. The goal of the charrette is to produce an exemplary,

4 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development The NCI Charrette System: Overview feasible plan with minimal rework that benefits It is challenging to conduct a fully collaborative process and avoid a series of from the support of all stakeholders through its implementation. This support is facilitated endless, tiring meetings. The NCI Charrette System™ makes the best use of by the ability of the charrette to transform the people’s time by involving them when their input will have the greatest impact. mindsets of all stakeholders. The charrette lasts between five and seven days. A multidisciplinary Some people attend more meetings than to become co-authors of the plan so that they are charrette team, consisting of consultants and others but all are consulted during open design more likely to support and help implement it. sponsor staff, produces the plan. Stakeholders– review sessions at key decision moments. These meaning anyone who can approve, provide review sessions are called feedback loops. These A charrette has at least three feedback loops. valuable information, promote, or block the feedback loops provide the consultant team with The experience of many charrette practitioners project, as well as anyone directly affected by the the information necessary to create a feasible has shown that this is the minimum number outcomes– are involved through a series of short plan. Just as importantly, they allow stakeholders of interactions necessary to take a group of feedback loops or meetings. The relationship between the community and the charrette team is somewhat like the passenger to the taxi driver. NCI Charrette Work Cycles The community is like the passenger who tells the experienced taxi driver where she wants to go. public meeting public meeting public meeting public meeting The taxi driver is trusted to know the best way to vision input review confirmation get there.

A NCI charrette makes the best use of people’s time by involving them when their input will have the greatest impact. No one should feel left behind or undervalued.

The relationship between the community and the charrette team is somewhat like the passenger to the experienced taxi driver. The community is like the passenger who tells the taxi driver where she wants to go. The taxi driver is trusted to know the best way to get there. alternative preferred plan concepts plan development The NCI Charrette System: Overview 5 stakeholders through a complete design process. political opposition. Tasks during this phase Once people experience a charrette The first feedback loop is to review a large include stakeholder communication, charrette group of alternatives, the second is to review a product review and refinement and stakeholder/ hands-on session or pin-up review they preferred plan, and the third is to review the fully community review. It is therefore advisable to realize that this is not planning (or developed and tested plan. It takes at least this hold at least one follow-up public meeting during much interaction with people to gain their input the post-charrette phase. meeting) as usual. and support for a plan. stakeholder outreach and engagement effort, A key reason that a charrette needs to be at least WHY USE THE NCI CHARRETTE months before the charrette that concerns five days is to accommodate the three feedback SYSTEM FOR TOD? about participation are addressed and interest in loops. Five plus days are also required to meeting attendance and participation is fostered. ­ accommodate both the scheduled and the ad hoc 1. Charrettes promote broad, consistent meetings with the large number of stakeholders participation For public meetings to be successful they must common to TOD. Finally, the complexities 2. ­ The NCI Charrette System™ is well-suited for be well-planned and facilitated. Once people involved in designing TOD require extra time. complex TOD projects participate in a charrette hands-on session or pin-up review they realize that this is not Note: a full description of the NCI charrette is 3. ­ The NCI Charrette System™ guards against planning (or meeting) as usual. The process included in the following section. project failure demonstrates a value for people’s participation by asking what matters to them BEFORE starting PHASE 3: PLAN ADOPTION Charrettes promote broad, consistent, and the design process, and then by involving them meaningful participation in the evolution of that design. This process can The goal of the plan adoption phase is to A key to project success using the NCI Charrette change people’s perception of how a public document the entire project process, test and System™ is giving people a reason to participate meeting can work. Through a charrette, people revise the charrette plan, and guide the plan in pre-charrette and charrette meetings. There are learn the interrelated workings of transit oriented through any required adoption processes. This two parts to a successful public meeting process. development, such as the connection between can be a very volatile period for a project. After a The first is to convince people that it is worth street design, building design and placement, and charrette, it is easy for a project team to take their their while to come to a meeting. The second walkability. It is during charrette feedback loops attention off of the project because the charrette part is delivering on your promise by making the that people may begin to change their perception seemed to go so well and/or they have to attend meeting meaningful and important enough for of potential project outcomes and therefore to other projects that have been neglected them to come to more meetings. their position on the project. All of these factors during the charrette. A period of post-charrette add up to an event that fosters and maintains “dead-air” is an invitation for others who may The first part begins with an understanding participation. oppose the project to dominate the discussion, of participants’ underlying issues. This often with false information. The activities for understanding is developed during the One of the first tasks in a charrette project process this phase are partially aimed at avoiding “post- stakeholder analysis as part of project assessment, is for community members to create a vision charrette meltdown” that can occur either step one of the first phase of the NCI Charrette for the TOD plan. This vision is an expression of because of feasibility issues and/or because of System™ (see page 10). It is then during the values and needs. The resulting plan addresses

6 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development The NCI Charrette System: Overview these vision elements thereby establishing a agreements. TODs also come with an involved Charrettes facilitate project meaningful connection between community set of community advocates each with their own, implementation leading to economic needs and the planning effort. often-conflicting, agendas. development Charrettes solutions are rooted in feasibility. Pre-charrette project assessment tools are The NCI Charrette System™ Stakeholder Analysis Every TOD charrette should have an economic designed to uncover issues present in which identifies all key stakeholders along with a development expert on the consultant team people are suspicious of the process either due to strategy for how and when they are involved. to assure that the plan supports an economic a fear of losing power or because they see a better Special pre-charrette information sessions development strategy. way to achieve their personal goal. These issues and stakeholder interviews and meetings are are addressed though interviews and meetings conducted to resolve any critical issues such as and perhaps conflict resolution intervention. Charrettes are especially effective for site- conflicts between commuters and neighborhood The goal is to help people see that the charrette specific development proposals members or even between government agencies. process creates a safe environment for them to Projects that involve current development participate. proposals are especially appropriate for TOD also presents particularly complex design charrettes. Charrettes bring together a multi- The NCI Charrette System™ is well-suited problems. Perhaps no other type of project disciplinary team necessary to study the detailed for complex projects like TODs involves so many modes of transportation aspects of site development. including rail, bus, walking, cycling and others. TODs often have a complex political and This intersection of transportation modes stakeholder context. There are commonly The NCI Charrette System™ guards against presents planners with a large set of often multiple project partners including transit project failure conflicting and overlapping programs and needs agencies, state, local and possibly federal The most common reasons projects fail are: transportation departments, local planning that interface with design and development. It is • ­ an unclear project mission agencies, metropolitan planning organizations for this reason that TOD charrettes are staffed by and developers. Multiple partners, each with a multidisciplinary team that typically includes • ­ lack of commitment or resources for their own agendas and policies, require extra engineers, designers, planners, economists, community outreach ­ resources to manage as they work toward shared environmentalists and others. • ­ poor data Charrettes transform community opposition to support • ­ lengthy project time lines In the case of an unclear project mission, often the project sponsor does not have, and/or does not communicate, a clear project mission, guiding principles and desired outcomes. This absence of leadership and clarity of purpose will cause stress on the project process. Team member relations and communication can become dysfunctional

The NCI Charrette System: Overview 7 and create opportunities for stakeholders/ the outcome, and potential supporters, as well as Another factor that can lead to project failure is community members to undermine the planning potential blockers. If these stakeholders are not incomplete or flawed base data research. While process and the project. During a NCI Charrette brought into the process early, the project may this is a seemingly obvious part of any project System™ project, the project sponsor and risk a fatal design flaw and/or the likelihood of management process, it is often overlooked for partners co-author a set of guiding principles, some people blocking its adoption. When people lack of time or resources. It is not uncommon objectives, and performance measures (e.g. return do not trust that their input will have an impact on for a project team to assume that existing data on investment, transportation mode splits, and the outcome, they may resort to tactics designed is correct and sufficient when actually it may be housing mix) that sets a unified team approach to obstruct the process. Project sponsors must outdated or lacking in detail. Design that is based with a clear project purpose to keep the project devote the necessary resources for conducting on track. effective outreach and relationship building. Key on incomplete or incorrect data requires rework, stakeholders must be identified early on and costing time, money, and trust in the process by Community involvement and support is a a plan created for their inclusion throughout stakeholder at large. Data must be collected and requirement for project success, particularly for the project process. It is especially important verified prior to the start of the design process for large complex projects. The NCI Charrette System™ to attend to those historically left out of the a fully informed, and therefore implementable, uses a broad definition of “stakeholders” that process- the under-served and disenfranchised plan to emerge. includes all decision-makers, people with valuable populations, not forgetting the young and the information (usually technical), people affected by old. Finally, the passage of time works against project success. TOD projects particularly often take a number of years to build, during which time new players, from elected or appointed officials to community members, become involved as leadership changes. However, they often lack an understanding of the project and its history. In the worst cases, this leads to restarting a project from scratch. When projects take a long time to implement they can simply lose momentum and the support they once had. During a typical planning process people can become fatigued with seemingly endless numbers of meetings held over months or years, loose faith in the process and become disinterested in the project. The NCI Charrette System™ shortens project time lines by reducing rework and through the use of the accelerated charrette event itself. Charrette save time and money when compared to conventional endless meetings

8 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development The NCI Charrette System: Overview post­ Typical NCI charrette Charrette System™ projects allocate pre - 50% of the charrette project budget for research, charrette education, and charrette preparation

HOW MUCH DO CHARRETTES COST? The charrette event cannot be separated from preparation and implementation phases for the total project. Therefore, it is not possible to budget for a charrette in isolation. The cost is completely dependent on project scale and complexity, how much preparation work has to be done, available resources, data collection, studies to be completed, and the scale of stakeholder outreach and engagement. TOD projects tend to require significant existing conditions and base data research. This pre-charrette work can consume up to half of a project budget. The multiple-day charrette itself can cost anywhere between a quarter and a third of the budget to complete the TOD plan, excluding engineering and construction. A key step in establishing the project budget is to first plan the project process using the NCI Charrette System™ assessment and organization exercises during the Project Start-up Intensive (page 10). In particular, the Charrette Purpose and Products and Charrette System Roadmap, which define the project deliverables and scope of work, provide the information necessary to conduct a reasonable estimate of the project budget.

The NCI Charrette System: Overview 9 APPLYING THE NCI CHARRETTE SYSTEM TO YOUR TOD PROJECT

complex technical and design problems. If the but a good rule of thumb is between 15 project is quite small and the design problem is and 30 people. A good test to see if you straightforward without complexities, a charrette are reaching the right people is to ask each will not likely be necessary. person if there is anyone else you should be talking to. Following the interviews, Does the project involve a large set of diverse the sponsor can decide if there are any stakeholders with divergent views? required informational events, personal Charrette System Phase 1: Charrettes are well suited to deal with complex outreach efforts, or meetings to assure full Research, Education and Charrette Preparation political environments. However the following participation in the charrette. two questions are key in determining the political feasibility of moving forward with any CHARRETTE SYSTEM PHASE 1: collaborative process. Will the project budget support the resources necessary to prepare for and conduct a RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND • Will the key stakeholders participate in the charrette? CHARRETTE PREPARATION process and the charrette fully and in good It is crucial to consider the project budget when faith? A common reason for charrette failure deciding whether or not to use a charrette. is that people who are central to project 1.1 Project Assessment and Organization In addition to the charrette event, there must success refuse to participate. A key part of be sufficient budget to conduct stakeholder the stakeholder outreach and engagement Step One: Project Assessment outreach and education along with the base data process is to meet with these people to gain gathering required before the start of a charrette. How do you know if a charrette is the right their commitment to participate. Parties process for your project? that are a world apart on issues (that may Despite their effectiveness for TODs, charrettes be unrelated to the charrette) may not be Step Two: Project Start-up Intensive are not necessarily the optimal approach for willing to participate. It may be impossible Once it is determined that a charrette is the correct every project. Before deciding to proceed with for them to focus on the charrette project approach, project assessment and organization a charrette, the project sponsor should conduct until the issues are resolved. This may require can begin. The NCI Charrette System™ begins a review of financial, political and technical a separate consensus building or conflict with a “project start-up intensive” meeting, during opportunities and challenges. The following are resolution processes prior to launching into which the following project assessment and important questions to consider in deciding if a a charrette. organizations exercises are completed: Guiding charrette is the best process for your project: • Are there political and/or relationship Principles, Objectives and Performance Measures, Stakeholder Identification and Analysis, Charrette Does the project represent a complex design issues that must be resolved before a problem requiring the viewpoints of multiple charrette can begin? An effective way to Purpose and Products, and the Charrette System technical specialists? achieve clarity on these questions is to have Roadmap. The purpose of this meeting is to assure Complex design problems require the small group or one-on-one conversations a solid basis for project success by gaining a set of collaboration of multiple disciplines. The charrette with people who represent the complete shared agreements between the project sponsor, creates a generalist approach out of a group set of viewpoints within the community. partners, and consultants, creating a collaborative of specialists and is very well-suited to address The size of this group varies with the project team approach that will carry the project through

10 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project the myriad of challenges toward implementation. costly rework and unnecessary effort that stems Example Guiding Principles: from following tangents to the core purpose Who attends the project start-up intensive? of the project. Ideally, Guiding Principles are • ­ The project will create a seamless The project start-up intensive is a meeting or written in a way that decisions can be tested pedestrian and cycling greenway series of meetings with the TOD project team: against them. Sometimes a community has a connection to the region the project sponsor(s), lead consultants, and set of Guiding Principles embedded in their • ­ The project will provide housing choices for partnering agencies. For example, the project comprehensive or general plan. But, it should not a variety of age and income groups sponsor might be the regional planning agency, be taken for granted that everyone understands, in partnership with the city development owns or even knows these principles. In this case, • ­ The project will provide a destination place commission, the regional transportation content from the comprehensive plan can serve to serve the surrounding neighborhoods ­ agency, and the local government housing as a starting point for this exercise. authority. Also in attendance would be the Project Start-up Intensive Exercise Two: lead consultant, including team members The Guiding Principles Exercise can be conducted Objectives and Performance Measures representing the specialties of planning, urban with any person or group whose support is crucial Using the Objectives and Performance Measures design, transportation, development, etc. Either to the project. At minimum, it is necessary that Exercise, the TOD project team creates a shared the project sponsor’s staff or consultant typically the TOD project team agree on guiding principles. agreement on a set of clear, specific, measurable, facilitates the meeting. Once crafted, the principles can be taken out to and achievable objectives for the project. These other groups and to the community-at-large to objectives are directly derived from the Guiding During the project start-up intensive, TOD project verify, modify and take ownership of them. Principles. Establishing a set of measurable team members develop a shared agreement on objectives helps make the charrette process more the project purpose, scope and process using Exercise Instructions: open and builds trust between public and private the following five exercises. These agreements Each person begins by writing four or five parties. A goal of this exercise is for the team and describe the basic terms of the project that define principles, one on each sticky note. The first eventually all stakeholders to understand and the schedule and budget. In completing this person finished writing quietly posts his/her own the Objectives and Performance Measures. work, the project team lays the foundation for a stickies on the wall in a horizontal row. The next The Objectives and Performance Measures shared team approach wherein everyone shares person follows by placing any stickies vertically ultimately find their way to the charrette where they serve as a set of metrics or indicators that are and supports the project process. below any sticky with similar principles. Any new used by the charrette team to qualify and quantify ideas are added to the top row. After everyone the performance of alternative plan concepts. Project Start-up Intensive Exercise One: has completed their exercise, the facilitator It therefore becomes an invaluable document Guiding Principles starts reviewing the longest column, which for validating the charrette decision-making The meeting begins at the biggest picture level of has the most common ideas. The group writes process and explaining it to those who enter work, focusing on the Guiding Principles, which a Guiding Principle for each column. A good the process at a later date. As with the Guiding represent core values that guide decision making way for the group to work toward the level of Principles, the Objectives and Measures, following throughout the planning and implementation guiding principle is to ask “why.” For instance, why their initial development in the project start-up of a project. Guiding Principles keep the project is it important that the TOD have a mix of land intensive meeting, are taken out for validation team and charrette participants on task, are used uses? Asking why takes the conversation to the by other stakeholder groups and eventually the to resolve conflicts of opinion and help avoid principle level. community.

Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project 11 Example Objectives and Measures: Project Start-up Intensive Exercise Three: the best use of people’s expertise and time, some Stakeholder Identification and Analysis will attend more meetings than others. The point Objective Measure The primary purpose of the Stakeholder Analysis however, is that all stakeholders are involved Improve pedestrian, • Traffic speeds is for the project team to arrive at a shared at the moments of key decisions, such as the bicycle and vehicular • Pedestrian crossing agreement on the commitment and approach analysis of alternative concepts and review of safety, especially in relation distances to stakeholder involvement. It is important to the preferred plan. Everyone should feel satisfied to pedestrian/vehicle address this early on and resolve any differences with their level of involvement and trust that their interactions of opinion about who will be involved and how. input can have an impact on the outcome. Treat storm water on site • Acreage of natural The Stakeholder Analysis describes an initial plan filtering area for engaging key people and organizations, with The level of involvement by community groups Provide for affordable • Housing prices as special attention to achieving environmental varies with each project. The NCI Charrette System™ housing percent of median justice and social equity. assures that all stakeholders, especially community income groups, are involved at key decision points. The Economic feasibility • Project proforma, The analysis must address the inclusion of working group model, described on page 18, ROI (return on low income and minority individuals and also assures that community representatives are investment) underrepresented communities/groups that included in a key advisory role. Provide easy, safe access to • Number of are too often left out of community planning the regional trail system connections to trail processes. Gaining the participation of these Stakeholder levels of involvement • Number of stakeholders is not always easy. They need a safe dwelling units and process that is worth their time- meaning that jobs within 1/4- they can participate without fear of losing power. mile walk of transit It is worth their time if they perceive that they can station have an impact on the outcome. It is also worth their time when the process is well designed to minimize rework, as opposed to the “endless Exercise Instructions: meetings” process. The group first creates a list of categories NCI defines “stakeholder” in the broadest such as transportation, environment, housing, terms. The NCI Charrette System™ identifies economics, market, etc. Using these categories as three circles of stakeholder involvement. The a reference, each participant writes down at least primary stakeholders are in the inner circle four or five objectives. Each person should write and attend the most meetings. Secondary and at least one objective outside of his/her specialty. general stakeholders attend progressively fewer The facilitator then works with the group to meetings. While these categories do roughly create a matrix of objectives along with each indicate the amount of involvement, they must performance measure. See example table above. not become an elite hierarchy. In order to make All are involved at key decision points

12 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project Example Stakeholder Levels: creates a list of stakeholder viewpoints essential to a holistic process. They then identify the Stakeholder Example Positions Suggested Involvement people who best represent each viewpoint Level and additionally list the people who must be Primary Project sponsor, local planning agency, Pre-charrette organizational meetings, involved because of their special relationship to transit agency, regional or metropolitan interviews, all public meetings, invited design the project. The group identifies the issues that planning agency, lead consultants, reviews during the charrette are important to each person and the viewpoint transportation agencies, local development they represent and then works to establish what commission, public health agency, constitutes “a win” for each person/group to be designated developers, community groups. involved in the charrette. The win describes an Secondary Non-governmental organizations: Pre-charrette interview, presentations at their underlying need such as neighborhood safety neighborhood groups, housing authority, regular meetings, all public events, charrette or local services. The win will become central environmental advocates, non-profit studio drop-ins and possible design reviews to the stakeholder outreach and engagement housing agencies, faith-based, social service during the charrette effort. Communication of the wins can be the agencies, chamber of commerce, schools (kids!). enticement to get new faces at the meetings. The last two columns describe the outreach strategy General Community members All public events, charrette studio drop-ins and the degree to which people may participate in the charrette. Note that the example positions can change depending on the project. For example, in one project a community group may be at the primary level because of their position as a co-sponsor. In another project, the community group may be Make sure that your Stakeholder Analysis includes in the secondary or advisory position. For example, in one project a neighborhood group may be at the primary level because they are a co-sponsor. In another project they may be in more of a advisory position at the secondary level. the following categories of people: 1. Decision makers. If decisions are being The Stakeholder Exercise: When left unresolved, these differences have the made in any given meeting, decision During the project start-up intensive meeting, the potential to create political problems later on. A makers need to be present. Decision project team creates an initial list of stakeholders clarifying question to ask when the group does makers might be agency and departmental who must be involved to assure project success. not agree on the inclusion of a stakeholder is managers or local elected officials who The group identifies the relevant stakeholders, “do you run the risk of substantial rework if their approve plans, zoning and public finance. appropriate involvement for each, and a strategy involvement is delayed?” If the answer is yes then They might be the head of the transit for getting them to participate in the process. This it is wise to bring them in early and often. agency that approves a project on transit is a very valuable exercise for testing the group’s A full discussion on conducting stakeholder agency owned land or a developer who values in regard to collaboration. The process of outreach and engagement is contained on page 17. may decide on financing for a project. creating the stakeholder list requires that the 2. Those historically left out of the public group come to agreement on who is involved Exercise Instructions: process. Hard to reach populations and when. It is important early on to uncover See example Stakeholder Analysis chart (on are often “under the radar” and any differences in opinions on the level of page 14). First, under the guidance of the underrepresented in community planning, involvement for one particular person or group. meeting facilitator, the TOD project team yet they are often significantly impacted by

Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project 13 Example Stakeholder Analysis: planning decisions. These groups must be Outreach Charrette identified from the outset and special effort Viewpoint Person Affiliation Issues Win Strategy Participation made to get them involved. 25 years of A plan and codes 3. Those directly affected by the outcome. controversy, agreed upon by the Anyone whose property or business is Elected Lucinda Capital with nothing developer, and the Email, Daily team affected should be involved throughout Official Wallis County to show. Wallis neighborhood. A phone meetings the project process. Those living or working is the project bullet-proof public within the project area should also be “champion”. process. A national represented. exemplar project.

4. ­ Those who may provide valuable Concern about A project that information for the project. This group project costs. Elected Henry Capital can be approved Email, Public usually includes people who are experts Interested Official Robinson County supported by phone meetings in a non- in their field. Look to the planning and neighbors. architecture departments of local colleges controversial and universities for help. Be sure to check if outcome. any academic studies have been conducted Minimal traffic in the area lately and if so add them to the Deep distrust impacts, maximum Kathy Mid-town of City Council housing, low collection of project base data. Neighbor- Snodgras, Neighbor- and staff. Traffic, buildings across Emails, Separate hood Kris Tal, 5. Those who have the power to promote hood visual impacts, from neighborhood, letters meeting Activists Terry the project. Supporters too often sit on Association property values, pedestrian access, Jensen the sidelines. Stories of successful projects safety. local retail only, no usually include the active participation increase in transit of one or several project champions. parking. Compatible uses Supporters might be the elected officials Neighboring Workers have Katrina Hollywood with existing Emails, Separate or a business association such as the local Commercial limited local Moss Boosters business, amenities letters meeting Owners services. chamber of commerce. for office workers, 6. ­ Those with the power to block the traffic management. Tom Big Sky Last Email, Daily team project. If there is any hope of gaining the Developer Bates, Economic and Development development phone meetings support of opponents, it is better to bring Dick market feasible plan. proposal failed. and reviews them into the process earlier rather than Bernard later. Non-profit Don Upward Neighborhood Certainty in the Emails, Public housing Johnson Housing opposition approval process phone meetings developer

14 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project Project Start-up Intensive Exercise Four: Example Charrette Products List: Charrette Purpose and Products Product Category Product Example During the project start-up intensive meeting, Transportation • Transit system plan the TOD project team defines the central purpose of the charrette and then list the charrette • Traffic impact draft analysis products. This exercise confirms the team’s • Street sections shared understanding of the process. There may • Multi-modal circulation and access plan be different ideas in the room about what the • Commute patterns charrette should accomplish. Is the charrette • Parking plan purpose to arrive at a vision with implementation plans left for later, or will the charrette address in- Environmental • Solar studies depth engineering, financial and political aspects? • Hydrology plan A seamless team approach for the duration of • Wildlife corridor plan a project requires that all members of the core • Community health assessment project team have a shared understanding of • Brownfields and contamination the purpose of the charrette. Once the charrette Civil • Storm water management plan purpose is decided the team can then move on to create the list of products or deliverables created • Grading plan during the charrette. Landscape Architecture • Parks, open space and trails plan • Park study designs Exercise Instructions: Urban Design • Illustrative master plan The meeting facilitator directs the project team to • Renderings develop the elements of the charrette purpose. For example, what is the largest charrette • Detailed special area site plan studies product? Is it a master plan or specific plan? Also, • Building types what level of work will be accomplished at the Regulatory • Regulating or zoning plan charrette? • Housing plan Example Charrette Purpose Statement: • Form-based code elements “The purpose of the charrette is to create a • Enabling legislation language feasible TOD master plan that is supported by the Economics • Real estate market conditions community. The charrette results should provide draft versions of all elements required for the • Economic and market feasibility plan master plan including urban design, transportation, • Parcel size and value environmental and economics.” • Fiscal impact analysis Once the group defines the charrette purpose • Project proforma statement, it moves on to create a preliminary list of charrette products organized by category, Social • Population and household demographics referring to the Objectives and Performance • Social and community resource mapping Measures. They then determine what products • Health impact assessment must be produced in order to conduct the performance measurements. • Major destinations map

Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project 15 Project Start-up Intensive Step Exercise: data gathering and analysis, logistical tasks, Exercise Instructions: Charrette System Roadmap deliverables, and events that drive the entire The group facilitator leads the team through the The final task during the project start-up project schedule. completion of the roadmap wall chart, first listing intensive is the drafting of the Charrette System each phase, activity and deliverable and then Roadmap, a chart that identifies the critical An important purpose of this exercise is to assure working out the time line for each in relation to path activities over the course of a project. The that the project team has a shared understanding Guiding Principles, Objectives and Performance of the project process and timing. There is no the others. This exercise is also an excellent way Measures, Stakeholder Analysis and Charrette better way to accomplish this understanding than to determine when the team will be ready to Purpose and Products provide the content for this group to co-author the Charrette System conduct the charrette, based on the time line for for the organizational, outreach, education, Roadmap. what must be completed beforehand.

Exa mple Cha rrette System Road Map:

in-house meeting ongoing task deliverable/benchmark 2 public meeting (2-days)

16 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project only a starting point. During the outreach and Don’t forget the kids! engagement process new information about Children often know more about the special known and previously unknown stakeholders will places and paths in their neighborhoods emerge. The assumptions contained within the than adults, and local schools are often Stakeholder Analysis must be continually checked willing to help involve their students in a against incoming information. charrette. Involvement techniques include workshops, art projects, and photo exercises. A Charrette System Phase 1: A central goal of this effort is to show people that presentation by a group of children can be one Research, Education and Charrette Preparation it is worth their time to participate in the project, of the most profound moments of a charrette. especially the public meetings and the charrette. Seek out teachers especially in middle- The “win” described in the Stakeholder Analysis 1.2 Stakeholder Outreach and schools who may want to make the charrette is an attempt to describe the underlying need Engagement a class projects. Involving children may also for each stakeholder. What is a win for them to encourage their parents to attend public participate? In communicating with stakeholders meetings. In some cases the children may play After the completion of project assessment and it is important to describe what is in it for them. the role of interpreter for family members. The organization in the project start-up intensive For some this may mean simply that they are inclusion of children humanizes the event, meeting(s), the public involvement process can able to contribute to the betterment of their tempers adult behavior and provides good begin. A public involvement specialist who is a neighborhood. Others may have specific need ideas. member of the local agency staff, a consultant such as a safe route to school. firm, local non-profit organization, or university typically leads the outreach and engagement Unfortunately, many people will not make it a effort. In all cases, this person must have a priority to become involved unless they perceive practical, on-the-ground understanding of the that the project will in some way make things community’s politics. An effective plan must dig worse for them. There are other reasons why deep into the community, going beyond the usual people may resist being involved. Some may be e-mail lists and official representatives. There concerned that their attendance will be taken as must be an effort to identify and engage with the support and that they may actually lose power unofficial leaders who are not necessarily visible to oppose what they don’t like. Others may but who none-the-less have influence within the believe that there are other ways that they can community. For example, the 85-year-old woman achieve their goals. Having early knowledge that who sits on her porch all day chatting with her these sentiments are present in a community neighbors may never have attended a meeting will allow the TOD project team to reach out to but could be the unofficial neighborhood leader. wary individual and groups. A strategy should be developed to engage them in some way to assure The Stakeholder Analysis completed during them that the charrette is a safe, transparent and the project start-up intensive charts the initial inclusive process wherein their participation can outreach process. It must however be viewed as have an impact. National Charrette Institute

Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project 17 A complete community involvement program approaches include working with faith-based properly inform a community about the various includes both broad ranging and targeted leaders and/or community advocacy groups subjects they need to understand to be informed outreach techniques. and social organizations that have working participants in the planning process. These relationships with these populations. It is often educational events can reduce the learning Broad ranging outreach techniques: required that the first meeting be held in their curve and assure a more informed group of • ­ Posters and ads at transit stations location in order to make it convenient for broad participants at the charrette. TOD educational attendance. Another method includes conducting events may include lectures or workshops that • ­ Newsletter announcements in local door-to-door surveys. The Use of Social Media for Community • ­ Publications Project working groups: Outreach • ­ Public signs/announcements A project working group is another way to effectively engage the community. The job of Opportunities • ­ Project website that is interactive and a working group is to recruit members of the • ­ Allows organizations to broadcast real-time allows people to submit comments and ask community to attend the public meetings and updates on events, programs, meetings questions ­ for the working group to attend the public Targeted outreach methods: meetings themselves, assuring the presence • ­ Supports rapid dissemination of of a well-informed, diverse set of participants. information; good for outreach ­ • ­ Social media to generate interest in the This working group is comprised of community process members representing all crucial viewpoints such • ­ Enables two-way dialogue between as business, housing, environment, pedestrian organizers & stakeholders, and between • ­ Phone calls to individual stakeholders and bicycle advocates, faith-based organizations community members ­ • ­ A comprehensive e-mail contact list and other interests. This group should also have representation from different geographic areas. • ­ Can be cost-effective and widely accessible • ­ One-on-one meetings with stakeholders Minority and under-served groups must be represented. These working group members Challenges • ­ Confidential Interviews gather to work on behalf of the project. They • ­ Better for dissemination of information, not • ­ Mailings should commit to attend educational sessions brainstorming or discussion and recruit other community members to attend Reaching and engaging underrepresented public meetings and the charrette. Note: beware • ­ Potential problems with digital divide (not populations: of politically appointed groups. They do not always accessible to all) Under-served populations such as low income truly represent the community. • ­ Not a replacement for face-to-face and underrepresented minority groups require communication special attention to assure involvement. These Pre-charrette educational events: groups may not see the need to participate or It is usually a good idea to hold one or a series • ­ Must be carefully managed as part of a may even see a risk in participation. The outreach of educational events before a charrette. TODs holistic communications strategy ­ method varies for each community but common are complex projects and it can take time to

18 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project provide information on the nuances of transit in Project website: a planning and development project, and provide A project website should be created with its own information on access to housing choices, jobs, URL address. This allows the project to have its education and services from transit. They can also own presence apart from any governmental site. highlight the value of mixed-income communities A website is the primary tool by which the project and equity, and address issues such as crime and team establishes itself as the go-to source for all displacement related to transit and TOD. TOD information about the project. Following is a list of typical website content elements: Charrette System Phase 1: projects should endeavor to engage the public Research, Education and Charrette Preparation on their turf. It is essential that meetings are easily accessible and when necessary held in a neutral • ­ Project description including sponsor, location. Project team members should avoid partners, consultant team, project purpose 1.3 Base Data Research and Analysis jargon and technical speak when working directly statement Base Data Research and Analysis is conducted with community members. • ­ What is TOD? concurrent with the stakeholder outreach as directed by the Charrette System Roadmap. • ­ TOD zoning (if applicable), design principles Social media and web-based participation tools: During the charrette, the charrette team needs a Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter • ­ Project process description, schedules, complete set of accurate base data and studies can be effective tools to gain interest in a project meetings, decision/approvals process ­ in order to complete the charrette products and and to inform people. Use twitter to cultivate design the project to the level of detail required people and meeting places over time and develop • ­ Base data reports and research links to assure feasibility. There should never be a time a following. Social media tools may not reach when a team member says something like, “If all populations so they should be considered to • ­ Charrette schedule we only knew exactly where the electrical utility be one part of a comprehensive outreach plan • ­ Previous local plans corridor was located then we could precisely plan that includes the aforementioned methods. A the location of the main boulevard,” or “If we only primary goal for using these tools should be to • ­ Press page, links to press coverage knew exactly where the street rights-of-way and get more people to the meetings. Once people property lines were we could determine if the have participated in a meeting, then web-based • ­ Discussion page sidewalk will be wide enough for outdoor dining.” participation tools can be used to continue • ­ Links to Facebook, Twitter pages for the the conversation. Don’t let the technology project ­ Members of a charrette team should be distract you from the central strategy of public experts on all base data concerning their involvement- the development of relationships. • ­ FAQs areas of specialty. Each specialty on the team You need to talk to the blogger just as you would is responsible for completing, at minimum, the editorial board of the newspaper. People • ­ Project contacts for questions an existing conditions analysis prior to the without computer access are advised to come to charrette that serves as a guiding document for the meetings or to the sponsors office to access the charrette team. In addition to the usual site information contained on the website. base data, TOD base data may include bus line

Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project 19 schedules, transit ridership, the relationship of the • Local traffic analysis public agency engineers and planners. The team project station area to the transit corridor and the must include economic and market specialists system, property ownership, local traffic analysis, • Project housing and market analysis practiced in TOD projects. TOD real estate as well as project market analysis indicating the • Parking utilization development expertise is especially valuable as housing and retail potential for the site. TODs have a unique market component. The TOD • Market analysis consultant team must include specialists in transit High tech tools can provide valuable capacity to and traffic with an emphasis on expertise in multi- the base data research and analysis task. For a • Zoning and standards modal transportation engineering. complete discussion and examples of these tools • Community demographics see the high-tech planning tools section of this The charrette team is commonly chosen and guide, beginning on page 47. contracted through a publicly offered request for qualifications or proposals (RFQ or RFP). In In a charrette, a transparent, public flow of developing the list of required specialties, the information is paramount. It is therefore the project sponsor refers to the charrette purpose responsibility of the charrette team to make and product list and the required base data sure that the community is given access to research. See the Contra Costa Centre Transit all of the base data. At a minimum, all project Village case study (page 35) for an example in information, proceedings and research should which community members were part of the be posted on the project website. Pre-charrette Charrette System Phase 1: consultant selection process. educational meetings are also a way to present Research, Education and Charrette Preparation and discuss base data. This is especially true for politically sensitive projects in which there is a 1.4 Consultant Team Formation history of mistrust between the community and government agencies. In these situations, any The charrette team is the core group of planners, action that can possibly be perceived as a “back designers, engineers, economists, and others room deal” can undermine community trust in working virtually uninterrupted in the charrette the process and throw a charrette off course. A studio, taking a project from a cold start to a transparent decision making process and the preferred plan in a matter of days. Decisions Charrette System Phase 1: posting of all base data and analysis documents about whom to include on the charrette team can Research, Education and Charrette Preparation are fundamental to a trustful public process. mean the difference between success and failure of a charrette. These talented professionals must 1.5 Charrette Studio and Public Meeting Typical TOD Project Base Data : be chosen for their ability to solve the design problems and complete the required charrette Venue Logistics • Bus line schedules products and documents through an interactive The location of the charrette studio and public • Transit ridership team process in a public setting. The team is most meeting venues should be determined early in a often composed of consultants but may also project. It can be difficult to find the right place • Property ownership map include members of the sponsor’s staff, such as in a community that is available for several days

20 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project and nights in a row. The charrette studio is first a remote working office for the charrette team. As such, it must contain the furniture and equipment necessary for this group of professionals to do their jobs. The studio must also accommodate ongoing meetings as well as receive drop-in visits from community members. Large public meetings may or may not take place at the studio site. Due to their size, these meetings are commonly held off-site at a school, church or some other public meeting place. Common charrette studio locations are storefronts, hotel Example 7-day charrette schedule: conference areas and community centers. The charrette studio should be easily accessible by transit. It is critical that someone with experience in charrettes visit and assess the studio prior to the charrette to assure that it can support the needs of the charrette team. The project sponsor should commit to holding meetings that are accessible and comfortable for diverse and under- served populations. If necessary, providing meals, childcare, transit passes (or reimbursement), translated materials and interpreters of different languages as appropriate.

Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project 21 needs of the community. The charrette team then breaks off to create alternative plans or scenarios, which are presented in a second public meeting, usually a day or two later. After gathering feedback at the second public meeting, the team synthesizes the best aspects of the alternatives into a preferred plan that is developed in detail Charrette System Phase 2: The Charrette and tested for economic, design and political feasibility. The charrette concludes with a CHARRETTE SYSTEM PHASE 2: THE comprehensive presentation at a final public CHARRETTE meeting. Meeting neighbors a on site tour The following describes the basic elements of a The charrette is organized as a series of feedback charrette, see The Charrette Handbook (Lennertz loops through which stakeholders are engaged and Lutzenhiser 2006) for a complete how-to at critical decision making points. These decision charrette guide.

Charrette Overview Once completed, the Research, Education and Charrette Preparation phase assures that a project is charrette ready with all the necessary people and all the right information in place. The charrette is the catalytic event of the NCI Charrette System™. It is a collaborative event that lasts at least five to seven-days. The goal of the charrette is to produce a feasible plan that benefits from the support of all stakeholders through its implementation. A multidisciplinary charrette team, consisting of consultants and sponsor staff, produces this plan. It takes place in a charrette studio situated on or near the project site.

The charrette opens with a public meeting to create a shared understanding of the project and the process and to solicit the values, vision, and Sketches and notes from a hands-on workshop. Images by National Charrette Institute.

22 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project making points occur in primary stakeholder and implement it. The following five charrette meetings, several public meetings, and possibly phases are described by day, based on a seven- in an open house during the course of the day charrette as shown in the previous schedule charrette. These feedback loops provide the graphic (page 21). The same process and charrette team with the information necessary phases apply to shorter charrettes, with phases to create a feasible plan. Just as importantly, they compressed into the lesser number of days. allow the stakeholders to become co-authors of the plan so that they are more likely to support 2.1 Organization, Education, Vision (Day 1) The main activities of the first day of a charrette consist of setting up the studio, taking a tour, Feedback loop session checking in with primary stakeholders, and holding a public meeting. It is important for everyone to understand that the design itself, putting pencil to paper, begins on the second day, only after gathering input at the opening public meeting. Starting with a “blank slate” prior to meeting with the public is a key feature of the charrette process and demonstrates the inclusionary and collaborative nature of what is to come throughout the charrette.

JHP Architecture / Urban Design Studio set up and organization The day begins with studio set-up and a team organizational meeting. The project team meets to get organized, review roles, base data, the schedule, and deliverables. The charrette team is responsible for studio set-up, which means creating a temporary office for the duration of the charrette, complete with computers, internet access, meeting space and drawing/work stations.

Tour Following the team organizational meeting, the JHP Architecture / Urban Design charrette team and other project team member Examples of alternative concept plans from the (and perhaps community members) set off on Community members attend an open house mid course Edgewood Station TOD planning charrette in Atlanta, GA a tour of the site and surrounding area. The tour review. Images by National Charrette Institute.

Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project 23 allows the team to gather site info, take photos, friends and neighbors. The other primary goal of a set of alternative concepts based on the results interview community members along the way, the meeting is to gather stakeholder input on the of the public meeting, the project objectives and and generally get a feel for the project, transit project in the form of notes and drawings. other physical, financial and political factors. After system and surrounding community. To make several hours of design work, the team meets the most of the tour, the charrette manager can The meeting, held on the first night of the for technical reviews of the early alternative arrange for presentations to occur along the way charrette, is divided into two parts. The first concepts. The purpose of these reviews is to with agency staff, community members, and local involves an informational presentation by test the initial set of design ideas with the historians. members of the consultant team lasting no more people who have technical expertise about than 45-minutes. The presentation covers the and/or jurisdictional power over the project. Stakeholder meetings project description, purpose and process time Typical participants in these technical reviews Meetings are held with selected primary and line. It is important to clarify the community’s role include transit and transportation planners secondary stakeholders the first day (often in the decision-making process as well as basic and engineers, operations staff, environmental morning) of a charrette. If the entire charrette technical information that will be helpful in the planners and possibly key community groups. The team does not need to go on the tour, these hands-on workshop to follow. litmus test for participation is anyone who can meetings may occur concurrent with the team cause substantial rework if they are not involved tour. Since the team has yet to begin design, this The second part of the meeting should include at these meetings. is not a design review meeting. These meetings some type of interactive, hands-on workshop are mostly political in nature. The purpose of involving all participants seated at small tables Ongoing charrette communications these initial stakeholder meetings is to check of no more than eight per table. It is hard for Throughout the charrette, the charrette team in with important people before the first public everyone to participate when there are more meeting to assure that they will attend and to performs a daily upload to the project website than eight in a group. A common exercise of the on-going charrette work including team gather last minute input, advice, and updates on involves drawing ideas for the future vision of local current events. Typical attendees include biographies, charrette schedule, news updates, the study area on top of aerial photographs of interviews, pictures from the meetings and transit agency managers and board members, the site. The exercise should address the unique local agency department heads, and community issues related to transit station planning. For leaders. example, ask people to draw the pedestrian and bicycle approaches to the station. The exercise Opening public meeting concludes with brief presentations to the all The overall goal of this first public meeting attendees by a community member from each during the charrette is for participants to gain a table, summarizing each group’s key issues. (See complete understanding of the project and how High-tech Tools Analysis beginning on page 47 for they can be involved. Attendees at this meeting options for supporting this meeting). should include the TOD team, the charrette team, the project working group, the press, all key 2.2 Alternative Concepts Development stakeholders (as determined in the Stakeholder (Day 2-3) Analysis) and the public. They should leave with a sense of excitement about participating and After the opening public meeting, the charrette National Charrette Institute want to come back to the next meeting with their team returns to the studio and begins to develop A charrette team hours before the final presentation

24 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project Selected Final Products form the Edgewood/Candler Park MARTA Station Charrette Atlanta, Georgia - April, 2011

JHP Architecture / Urban Design National Charrette Institute A charrette final presentation images of the work-in-progress. The website also contains links to online networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter pages for the project, which should be updated regularly and monitored throughout a charrette. The website should allow participants from the first meeting to follow the ongoing work of the charrette and perhaps comment online. JHP Architecture / Urban Design PlaceMakers Mid-course public review After the initial primary stakeholder review of the alternative concepts, the charrette team makes

JHP Architecture / Urban Design JHP Architecture / Urban Design JHP Architecture / Urban Design Charrette team: JHP Architecture / Urban Design, Green Rock Partnership, PlaceMakers, Columbia Residential, National Charrette Institute, Ellen Dunham-Jones

Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project 25 any necessary adjustments to the alternatives and areas but it is important that the major issues Plan development is a crucial step toward prepares for the mid-course public review. This have been resolved in a preferred approach. reducing rework and improving likelihood of review occurs anywhere from 24 to 48 hours after The creation of the preferred plan is a defining implementation. In the NCI Charrette System™, the opening public meeting. The timing depends moment in a charrette. Here, the pressure is on designers begin testing the plan immediately on the length of the charrette. This review can the charrette team to create design solutions that on the heels of the preferred plan selection. take place in the form of a casual open house or will satisfy the issues and needs of the project This quick feedback allows designers to adjust a more structured public meeting. In either case, sponsor and the stakeholders. Often this involves immediately without wasting time on infeasible participants from the opening meeting learn the discovery of an unexpected solution that will options. One of the key deliverables developed at about the trade-offs among the alternatives allow the project to move forward. This discovery this time is a clear implementation strategy for the as measured against their input from and the can represent a transformative event for the project as a whole. This strategy should identify project objectives. Strengths and weaknesses of project and perhaps the community. People the next steps, the roles and responsibilities of the alternatives are identified and revisions are whose opposition was based on a misconceived each stakeholder, and a general time line for suggested on the spot. This review process is the set of solutions may now support the project. when these activities should occur. hallmark of the charrette and can be particularly They may even emerge from the charrette with effective for TOD projects with very broad and a different viewpoint regarding the benefits of 2.5 Production and Presentation (Day 6-7) diverse stakeholders. It is an opportunity for all transit oriented development or possibly the The last days of the charrette are reserved for parties to learn about the multifaceted nature community planning process itself. the production of the drawings and documents of transit oriented development projects. that will be presented at the final charrette Participants are immersed in a collaborative 2.4 Plan Development (Day 4-5) public meeting. During the production phase, learning environment in which all viewpoints are After the preferred plan is selected, the charrette the charrette team’s role is to produce beautiful, represented. People value knowing that they are informative drawings and carefully prepared involved while design decisions are being made team begins a series of feasibility tests. During data for the detailed preferred plan and and that they have the ability to have an impact the plan development phase, each charrette team implementation strategies in a comprehensive on the outcome. member shifts to focus on his or her own studies rather than on the plan as a whole. Studies should digital presentation. be developed at a minimum for economics, 2.3 Preferred Plan Synthesis (Day 4) The charrette concludes with a comprehensive transportation, transit, environment, storm Following the mid-course review, the charrette presentation of the preferred plan at a public water and urban design. This plan development team meets to review the results of the public meeting. This “work-in-progress presentation” has input and to work out a preferred direction for work is the crucial test necessary to assure that the potential to be a pivotal moment for creating the plan. This decision is based on a combination the preferred plan is politically, practically and the support necessary to propel the project of public and stakeholder input, the project financially feasible. These studies can take the through unexpected challenges on the path to objectives and performance measures, and the form of detailed plans, site sections, economic implementation. This meeting is, at its best, an professional judgment of the charrette team analysis, transportation modeling, etc. This impressive and entertaining event and one that members. The best aspects of each alternative feedback provides the information necessary to makes the community proud of its collaborative are merged into a preferred solution. There is adjust the plan and reduce time spent pursuing effort during the charrette. The final charrette always room for optional approaches to different fruitless alternatives. public meeting can last up to two and a half hours.

26 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project Attendees should include the project sponsor, time for discussions among key project partners process to newcomers. Strategies for shortening project team, charrette team, project working and the community about the necessary next the adoption time frame include: group, press, all key stakeholders, and the public. steps toward adopting the plan. It is also an • ­ Continuing a robust outreach, education The meeting consists of three segments: work-in- optimal time to check in to see how things went and communications campaign with all progress presentation, public input session, and with members of the working group. stakeholders open house and reception. • ­ Testing and revising the products of the Work-in-progress presentation charrette This is a digital presentation by members of the charrette team. The first part of the presentation • ­ Conducting post-charrette public meetings covers the project purpose and how the charrette • ­ Briefings with transit agency leaders and is a part of a larger design and approvals process. board members ­ Next is a summary of what happened during the charrette, followed by the presentation of the • ­ Holding informational sessions with local charrette preferred plan by the charrette team Charrette System Phase 3: Plan Adoption leaders and staff ­ on all aspects of the project. The presentation concludes with a review of the next steps in the • ­ Incorporating the final charrette plan into adoption process including the timing of the next CHARRETTE SYSTEM PHASE 3: a community plan that is adopted by local public meeting. PLAN ADOPTION leaders • ­ Working with local leaders and agency staff Public input session The project team works with the community after on implementation steps and strategies A facilitated open discussion follows the the charrette to guide the plan toward adoption presentation. This can either be conducted as an as soon as possible. The NCI Charrette System™ • Leveraging the working group to maintain open forum or in small table group discussions assures that the charrette products are well tested and stabilize community relationships facilitated by staff. Input can also be gathered and vetted with the key stakeholders and the using keypad polling. community. This approach is aimed at minimizing change though adoption and eventually 3.1 Project Status Communications Open house and reception engineering. It is the responsibility of the project sponsors As part of the meeting set-up, the charrette team to maintain a timely and transparent flow of erects a gallery of the charrette preferred plan The passage of time can sometimes work against communication with all stakeholders after a drawings and documents. Meeting attendees project implementation. It is best to move into charrette. All available communication channels review the gallery before the beginning of the the plan adoption phase right after the charrette, should be used during the approvals period meeting. After the public input session, attendees while people are in place and the memory of including face-to-face meetings, articles in the return to the gallery where they can informally the process is fresh. Along with a long adoption press and on blogs, website postings, and social discuss the results with members of the charrette process can come changes in leadership, staff, and media updates. The project working group is team. This open house can be combined with a community members. These changes can require also very active in this phase. Their focus is on reception with refreshments. This is an excellent costly added meetings to explain the planning informing their constituents about the charrette

Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project 27 The passage of time can be one of the biggest enemies of project implementation. It is preferable that the plan adoption phase be as short as possible to reduce the risks associated with changes in political and regulatory leadership.

results and keeping them involved throughout occurring one or two-days apart. The two- it is recommended to conduct training sessions the approvals phase, especially at the public meeting model is especially effective for projects with staff, commissioners and elected officials meetings. There should be a clear channel of that remain volatile after the charrette or for to assure that those who are responsible for the communication between the project sponsor projects with significant post-charrette revisions. day-to-day administration of the plan have a and the project working group during this phase This provides an important forum for those who clear understanding of the project process and to share information about the pulse of the were either absent from the charrette or for those their role in its implementation. Members of the community during this important phase. who maintain serious reservations about the state charrette team usually facilitate this training. of the project. 3.2 Charrette Product Testing and Refinement The follow-up community meeting is a great As presented at the final charrette public opportunity to defuse any post-charrette project meeting, the preferred plan is a work-in-progress. opposition and to shore up community support. During the charrette, the team conducted This meeting should be designed in part to feasibility analysis and testing of the preferred provide a safety net for people who are new to plan. This work is prevention against any fatal the project. The concerns of these people are project flaws that may hinder the adoption and best accommodated as they are in the charrette, implementation of the plan. However, there is through a final feedback loop. always a need for more in-depth testing to assure the accuracy and feasibility for some of the plan Following these community meetings, the project elements after the charrette. This review and revision usually takes between one and three- team works to finalize all plan revisions, complete months. project documents for adoption and write the final project report. 3.3 Presentation and Product Finalization 3.4 Educational Sessions for Leaders and Once the plan revisions are identified it is Staff advisable to hold a follow-up community meeting. This meeting ideally occurs four to six- Speedy project adoption, and eventual weeks after the charrette. If they are held any implementation, is greatly supported when later than this, there is the potential for a change the local leader and agency staff have a clear in leadership that can have a destabilizing effect shared understanding about the purpose of on the project. This event can be a stand-alone the plan and the details of its implementation. evening meeting or a pair of evening meetings During and/or after the plan approvals period

28 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development Applying the NCI Charrette System to your TOD Project TOD CASE STUDIES

INTRODUCTION Planning for TOD occurs at the scale of the region, the corridor, the station area, and the land parcel. These separate levels of planning should be coordinated to achieve the most successful outcomes. Planning at the regional scale serves to integrate regional goals, such as decreasing traffic congestion and improving public health, with regional contexts, such as a consideration of population growth and the location of major employment centers. Planning for TOD most often takes place at the station area level, and this is where it’s easiest to understand local benefits such as reduced transportation costs for residents, and the creation of a sense of place and community. Development projects are planned at the scale of the land parcel.

The following case studies show the application of the NCI Charrette System™ to four different scales and types of projects- a transit village at a regional rail stop in suburban California, a neighborhood redevelopment plan around a rail station in an outer Miami neighborhood, the redevelopment of a brownfield industrial site in New Jersey and a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) corridor along the low density Florida State Route 7. For all four projects, construction is either complete or near completion. The cases explain the public engagement process in addition to the problem and design solution for each project. All projects leverage the charrette itself as a central strategy to maximize public involvement.

TOD Case Studies 29 DOWNTOWN KENDALL

SUMMARY the former of which also serves as a major bus transit hub. In spite of these public transportation In a dramatic success story of transformation, opportunities, the area remained auto-oriented Downtown Kendall, in Miami-Dade County, with empty buildings, office towers, and huge Florida, has evolved from a suburban-style parking lots surrounding the 1.4 million sq. ft. commercial center to an urban, mixed-use Dadeland Mall. downtown. The 324-acre site, located 10 miles south of Miami on the Metrorail line, was seen By the mid-90s, residents were fed up with the as an opportunity to turn a suburban mall suburban development pattern and were making Dover, Kohl & Partners and surrounding strip development into a things difficult for developers by opposing metropolitan center that better leveraged its permits. Though the area was designated in unique place in the regional transportation the county’s Comprehensive Development system. Plagued by an environment of skepticism, Master Plan as a “future urban center”, talk the charrette process and smart growth principles of transforming this area into a pedestrian- were successfully used to generate a creative friendly, mixed-use new urbanist development vision that involved community members, - “Downtown Kendall” - seemed laughable; there county government, neighboring municipalities, was no “downtown.” developers, and business owners, forming a lasting identity for Downtown Kendall. Chamber South, the local chamber of commerce, saw the need to take a fresh look at the PROJECT DESCRIPTION Downtown Kendall area. Paul Vrooman, Chamber South’s then-Marketing Director, began to What is now Downtown Kendall was formerly a wonder about the region’s growth, asking himself, Dover, Kohl & Partners commercial crossroads in suburban Miami-Dade “Where are the gathering places if there are only County, with poor pedestrian accessibility and malls? Where will people watch the Fourth of July visual blight common to auto-oriented suburbs. fireworks and listen to jazz concerts?” Having Once farmland, the area was transformed in the seen the changes made in downtown South 1960s with the introduction of the Dadeland Mall, the construction of limited access highways on TOP RIGHT: Existing conditions in 1999 with the two sides, and the remarkably fast growth of retail, Dadeland Mall and sprawling development pattern. offices, hotels, and residential neighborhoods MIDDLE RIGHT: Rendering produced during the 1998 along the four heavily traveled, regional roadways Downtown Kendall Charrette. This aerial view illustrates crisscrossing the site. a new vision for the area, with interconnected streets, mixed-used development, and mid-block parking, all in effort to transform the auto-oriented landscape. During the 1980s the Metrorail transit system was BOTTOM RIGHT: Existing conditions in 2010. New established, including two major commuter rail development has occurred in accordance with the stations, Dadeland South and Dadeland North, Downtown Kendall Plan and Code. Copyright © 2010 Microsoft Corporation

30 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development TOD Case Studies Miami as a result of a master plan designed by Pre-charrette public spaces. This agreement resulted in town planners Dover, Kohl & Partners, Chamber a plan with streets, arcades, squares, and South asked Dover, Kohl & Partners for their help • ­ For the three years leading up to the greens, transforming Kendall’s existing charrette, the Chamber and Dover, Kohl & transforming Downtown Kendall into an urban superblock pattern into smaller blocks Partners met face-to-face with stakeholders, center. with more meaningful public spaces. The informing them about smart growth, mixed- charrette as a public forum allowed these use, transit-oriented development, and the Nearby residents agreed that a new start on parties to recognize their shared values and benefit of working together to transform begin to implement them. planning was needed for Kendall. Private business Downtown Kendall. and property owners in the area required a harder sell, with the Chamber and Dover, Kohl & • ­ Lectures and rallies were held to inform Partners spending three years informing, building the public on a variety of planning-related relationships, and slowly gathering support for topics. the charrette process. • ­ A committee made up of local stakeholders was assembled to guide the process and The Chamber of Commerce was able to eventually organize the charrette. pull together key stakeholders, including the transit authority, Miami-Dade County, and Charrette powerful property owners entrenched in the old way of doing development. The Chamber also • ­ The design team conducted a seven-day convinced the county to fund the majority of the charrette in June 1998, with over 300 people process, with additional funding coming from taking part in the opening public workshop. private land owners, the South Florida Water • ­ The charrette began with a Friday evening District, and Florida Power and Light. This effort kick-off event. Saturday morning Dover Kohl to pull in funding from a variety of stakeholders led a hands-on design workshop. The public not only made the project possible, but also was invited to stop by the studio located helped build critical buy-in. in the heart of the project site and attend a mid-week open house to provide feedback PROCESS DESCRIPTION on the in-progress plans.

The Downtown Kendall planning process • ­ During the charrette, a master plan for the involved a full charrette process that was led by site was produced in collaboration with two of the foremost urban design firms in the the stakeholders and the public. During Country, Dover, Kohl & Partners and Duany Plater- the charrette, it was discovered that both Zyberk & Company, both located in South Florida. residents and private developers valued Below is a brief description of the public process. pedestrian connectivity and high-quality Downtown Kendall Charrette Public Meetings Agenda

TOD Case Studies 31 • ­ A variety of tools were used to communicate During the first 18 months following the plan’s committee helped to organize the charrette and the vision for Downtown Kendall to the public. approval, more than 2,000 residential units, over was instrumental in generating public turnout. Steve Price, from Urban Advantage, created a 200,000 square feet of commercial space, and series of photo simulations showing before several hotels proceeded through the permitting Funding as a tool for stakeholder buy-in photographs, changing over time, to reflect process. The new development has been Establishing a strong relationship between the vision for the project. One simulation met with rapid market acceptance. Currently, public and private sponsors was an important shows Dadeland Boulevard transformed for approximately six city blocks, named “Downtown foundation for the Downtown Kendall project, the pedestrian, with colonnades designed to Dadeland,” including residential and commercial with the Chamber sponsoring the public protect people from the elements, building uses, have been developed. Another eight city charrette process and the County serving as facades that face the street, and on-street blocks comprising an urban quarter named “The the primary funder. The project also received parking to slow traffic. In addition, street level Colonnade” are under construction. additional financial backing early on from a hand-drawn illustrations showed how the diverse range of local stakeholders, who put their proposed new town square would look to a INNOVATIVE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT own money on the line. The agreement of local pedestrian walking through the space. TECHNIQUES businesses to share the cost was a transformative part of the pre-charrette process, building critical Post Charrette Inspirational lectures & rallies stakeholder buy-in. To prepare the community for the charrette, • ­ Following the charrette, the consultant made public lectures and rallies were hosted by LESSONS LEARNED regular trips to attend meetings with the 13 Chamber South and Miami-Dade County. county commissioners. Speakers included Peter Katz, new urbanist Short feedback loops author and consultant; Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, The process of using short feedback loops PROJECT OUTCOME Dean of the University of Miami School of enabled the charrette team to develop a win/win Architecture and founding principal of DPZ; and design solution to a building height controversy. The intent of the charrette plan was, in Victor Kristen Paulsen Pickus, planner and smart growth Months before the charrette, a developer Dover’s words, to replace Kendall’s “chaotic educator. The lectures covered such topics as arrived with an application to build a tower complex. The proposed building rose 390 feet development” with “coherent town building.” edge cities, retail, and how “great cities can do and required a variance, which was stridently The charrette resulted in unanimous approval great things,” helping to inspire new ideas and opposed by business owners and neighbors. change the dynamic of the land use conversation. of the final plan by the Miami-Dade Planning The variance was approved by the county, which Commission. Subsequently, the same team prompted a neighboring municipality to file a produced the Downtown Kendall Urban Center Stakeholder committee at the lead lawsuit objecting to the process. The situation District Code, which was approved unanimously A multi-stakeholder, 20+ member committee, contributed to an environment of distrust, by the Miami-Dade County Commission, and which included local business leaders, property especially between county leaders and local is today guiding the build-out of Downtown owners and neighbors, was assembled by residents. The charrette provided an opportunity to solve this core issue. Kendall. Chamber South to guide the process. This

32 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development TOD Case Studies The solution, generated during the charrette, was Street level renderings the feasibility of better street design. By a better approach to regulating building height, During this early charrette, Dover, Kohl & Partners understanding the economic reality of the private in which height is measured in stories, not feet. learned that ground level illustrations resonate sector and working to remedy the problem, the This solution has the benefit of incentivizing extremely well with the public and can have a county was able to make it possible for the private greater floor to ceiling height, which increases the strong effect on long-term policy decisions. One sector to more easily build the community's value of living spaces and provides a more varied street-level rendering, in particular, was very vision. skyline. powerful. The illustration showed one of the streets in the study area fronted with podium Post-charrette plan adjustment As a result of the problem solving that occurred parking garages. A second rendering showed during the charrette, the developer abandoned Although the owners and managers of Dadeland how the street would look with garages lined with Mall (Simon Properties and Lend-Lease his initial plan for a 390-foot tall building and habitable space. Though the developers didn’t instead built a six- and seven-story development, Corporation) participated in the charrette, soon like the idea of wrapping their parking garages after the ordinance was adopted they filed a with three levels of underground parking. with liner buildings, the renderings generated Remarkably, studio condos in this project sold for property-rights claim, asking to be excepted from strong consensus among the public in favor of the ordinance. They did not buy into the street- $200,000, which for this region was unheard of, an active streetscape. These powerful graphic and had the effect of increasing property values oriented model and feared that the ordinance tools eventually lead both the county and the would hinder “business as usual.” In response for nearby properties, including those outside the city to require habitable space along the street, study area. to the claim brought by the developers, urban drastically improving the pedestrian experience designer Jonathan Barnett and urban economist and consequently improving land values. Chris Leinberger were brought in to find a Pre-charrette outreach and education workable compromise. Barnett suggested small The Downtown Kendall Charrette was Public and private sector collaboration changes to the master plan while Leinberger possible because of three years of face-to- County street standards were not capable of made a powerful economic argument in favor face conversations between the Chamber of delivering the quality of streets and sidewalks of street-oriented development. By returning to Commerce and local stakeholders. At the time required in the pedestrian-oriented charrette the basic principles of the charrette plan, refining the project was conceived, the charrette process, plan. The old standards would have resulted in language regarding grandfathering of pre- mixed-use development, and transit-oriented developers spending considerable resources to existing rights, and subtly modifying the official design were new ideas that had little place in the propose and negotiate alternate street designs maps to incorporate new information from the conventional single-use development pattern for every project submittal, which would have mall owners, a compromise was found. A solid that dominated south Florida. In order to change stifled redevelopment and the realization of the base of public support helped ease the changes, the status quo and begin to move in a new vision. which in the end strengthened the original plan. direction, the Chamber had to build relationships and trust through informal conversations, To address this problem, the county planning presentations, and informational workshops. department hired transportation engineer Eventually a critical mass of developers and land Rick Hall to design street templates that made owners were willing to try a new approach to planning. the developers’ jobs easier and increased

TOD Case Studies 33 PROJECT DETAILS

Charrette cost: $200,000 (not adjusted for inflation)

Funding source: Primary funding from Miami-Dade County, with additional funding from local stakeholders

Number of participants: 300+

Current program build-out: • over 1,500 residential units

• 624,450+ square feet of retail & office uses

• 300+ hotel rooms

Replication: Downtown Kendall project modeled after South Miami charrette.

34 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development TOD Case Studies CONTRA COSTA CENTRE TRANSIT VILLAGE

SUMMARY exception of one critical piece of property, a process, County Supervisor Donna Gerber BART-owned 18-acre commuter surface parking attended a conference where she heard about a The Contra Costa Centre Transit Village is a 125- lot. Located directly adjacent to the station, this process described as the solution for politically acre district surrounding the Pleasant Hill BART property would become the heart of the Contra complex conditions, a process known as a Station in Walnut Creek, California, located just Costa Center Transit Village. charrette. Gerber saw that new urbanism and the 25 miles east of the San Francisco Bay Area. After charrette process could possibly be an answer to multiple failed attempts at building consensus During the 1990s, one developer-driven program the stalled situation in Contra Costa. She returned and completing the heart of the transit oriented after another was proposed for the BART station home and was able to convince BART and the development, Contra Costa County held a design surface lot, none gaining traction. By the late County to start over again. charrette that galvanized the community and 1990s many residents worried that any additional enabled the project to move forward. Now the development other than local service and PROCESS DESCRIPTION Contra Costa Centre Transit Village is nearing full residential uses would push the growing traffic build-out and is serving as a model for how to problem over the edge. Community members To plan the Pleasant Hill BART project, the County design a successful public process that works for also felt they were given limited opportunities hired Lennertz Coyle & Associates to initiate a full even the most politically charged situation. to participate in the review of development charrette process, with a significant pre-charrette proposals, and when they were engaged there phase to provide needed time to rebuild trust PROJECT DESCRIPTION were too few options on the table. It looked to the and enthusiasm around a second public process. residents as though the heavy commercial and The primary stages of the charrette process are Contra Costa, which started as a quiet agricultural entertainment uses were a foregone conclusion described below. valley, began to transform into a regional and that their input had no impact on the transportation hub with the arrival of the I-680 proposed outcomes. Pre-charrette highway interchange at Treat Boulevard in the mid 1960s and the construction of the local In 1999, in an effort to better engage the • ­ The charrette process began in 2001 when Pleasant Hill BART station in 1973. To address public and move the project forward, Contra a local steering committee selected a consultant team, which included urban increased growth pressure and to take advantage Costa County initiated a conventional public of the transit stop, a specific plan for the 125-acre designers, transit planners, transportation planning process, which took a year and had BART station area was adopted by Contra Costa engineers, market economists, retail unsatisfactory results for all parties involved. County in 1983, incorporating the principals of consultant and architects, computer imaging The process was marred by slow feedback Transit Oriented Development (TOD), well before consultants, public outreach specialists, and the term was commonly used. The plan called loops, a lack of continuity caused by a changing form-based code specialists. for a high density, mixed-use transit-oriented roster of participants, and planning that largely ­ community, including Transportation Demand occurred behind closed doors. In addition, the • Stakeholder groups within the community

Management to promote walking and minimize final outcome was a compromise that failed to actively sought the participation of various ­ car trips. satisfy any of the participants. Everyone was interests from the boarder community. disappointed. • ­ The charrette was also publicized with press Much of the land surrounding the station was releases, public notices, and information sent built-out under the Specific Plan, with the In 2001, nearing the end of this first public

TOD Case Studies 35 to an extensive e-mail list generated by the information such as market demand, these meetings and developed alternative steering committee. financing requirements, and site constraints concepts communicated through the use to develop alternative concepts for the site. of hand-drawn, renderings and photo • ­ A month before the design charrette, the By the time the charrette took place, it was simulations. These concepts were brought consultant team held an initial public widely understood that broad participation back to the stakeholders and the general kick-off meeting that sought to build trust was expected. People responded by turning public numerous times throughout the week between the community members and out and further contributing to the process. the project sponsors, Contra Costa County, at public meetings and open houses and BART, and the developer. In addition to Charrette were revised according to additional input. informing the public about the project and The charrette team took the refined plans • ­ A six day charrette process was held in 2001, the charrette process, the meeting also and synthesized them into one final plan began to solicit ideas for the future of the with over 500 people taking part. Public representing the best of all ideas. TOD neighborhood. Over 150 community meetings were held for anyone who wished members worked in small groups to discuss to attend, and stakeholder meetings were • ­ In addition to an illustrative plan, the how the project related to the area and scheduled with neighbors, bicycle and consultant team created and refined form- what a vision for the developed site might pedestrian advocacy groups, and BART based zoning and architectural codes; look like. The consultants took this input representatives, among others. The charrette market and financial feasibility analyses; and combined it with the other critical team worked with all of the input from street and transit circulation plans; a

Urban Advantage Urban Advantage Computer generated image of Treat Boulevard produced during the Contra Costa Station Square at the Contra Costa Centre Transit Village- public open space surrounded Center charrette. by retail with housing above.

36 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development TOD Case Studies pedestrian paths and parks plan; a transit INNOVATIVE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT The power of drawing ideas plan for buses, taxis, and park and ride; TECHNIQUES A key that kept the public coming back over the regulating plan; and illustrative renderings course of the charrette was the realization that depicting the future of the area. Collaboration from the beginning their opinions were being heard, which they At the very beginning of the charrette process a could see in the emerging plans produced by • In the end, the charrette resulted in a steering committee was formed, comprised of the designers. The public had full access to the comprehensive and detailed plan that met the Contra Costa County Redevelopment Agency, charrette team during non-meeting hours, at the basic requirements of all parties, ending all times of the day. They could test what was BART, the designated developer, and members of the historic deadlock. being produced against what was being heard at nearby neighborhood associations. This group, meetings. which brought to the table representatives of PROJECT OUTCOME previously opposing groups was tasked with LESSONS LEARNED During the closing presentation of the charrette, selecting a consultant team, giving them an then County Supervisor, Donna Gerber, ended the active role in shaping the process and therefore Choosing the right process evening by asking, “Do you like what you see?” the outcome of the planning effort. By giving In Contra Costa, a conventional planning process which received an overwhelming, “yes”. To which this diverse group an active role, the barriers of and the charrette process occurred back to back, she replied, “Well, what you see is what you’ll get!” planning behind closed doors were replaced demonstrating the overwhelming disparities with planning done in a partnership between between the two approaches. In the conventional process, fewer than 100 people participated, In 2002, Contra Costa County Supervisors governmental agencies, private developers and the consultants were unable to overcome unanimously approved the plan with no attendee community members all working together. psychological barriers, there was a high level speaking in opposition and incorporated the Face-to-face relationship building of participant turnover and drop-out, and the charrette plan into the area specific plan. The outcome was a compromise that failed to meet county created a position for a town architect who In this project, because of the highly contentious anyone’s expectations. In the charrette process, was hired to ensure that incoming development sentiments within the community, the charrette the compressed meeting schedule resulted in applications adhered to the form-based codes team spent 4 months in advance of the charrette, high levels of participation (over 500 people), created during the charrette. meeting with local stakeholders, getting to psychological stalemates were addressed and know neighborhoods, and building trust. resolved, the stakeholders and the community took ownership of the project, and the outcome The project is now nearing completion with more This preliminary networking was conducted was the result of many problem-solving exercises than 2,700 housing units, two hotels, offices independently of the County, allowing the team that produced a plan supported by almost with more than 6,000 employees, and more to arrive at the charrette with a certain level of everyone involved. than $90 million in major public infrastructure credibility. This type of intensive personal public improvements, all within walking distance of the outreach is rare due to budget constraints, but Contra Costa emphasizes that in the case of Pleasant Hill BART Station. was a key to success in Contra Costa. a highly political environment, the charrette

TOD Case Studies 37 process is better designed to effectively build Ms. Gerber convince the county and other key transformation of a highly skeptical community consensus and overcome entrenched mindsets. players to get behind a new and largely unheard into believers in the public process. BART Director Gail Murray observed, “The of charrette process, but she also put her political planning charrette is a powerful tool for achieving career on the line by telling her constituents that PROJECT DETAILS consensus on land use issues. By empowering it was unacceptable for the BART property to the local community, and supporting them with remain surface parking and that people needed Planning costs: $600,000 (charrette process) technical resources, communities will create smart to engage. growth solutions that are sustainable even in the Source of funding: most challenging of circumstances.” In addition to Gerber, County Redevelopment Contra Costa Redevelopment Agency (using TIF Director, Jim Kennedy, provided the staff support revenue) The right number of days needed to turn the plan into a reality. He not Extremely contentious political environments only managed the process but paid close Number of participants: 500+ require at least a six-day charrette. This allows for attention to details during both the planning and Current program build out: time to deal with the unexpected. For instance, implementation phases of the project. at the Contra Costa charrette, it quickly became • ­ 2,700 residential units apparent that issues surrounding traffic would Accurate base mapping have to be addressed. During the second day • ­ 35,590 square feet of local serving retail An accurate base plan is extremely important. The of the charrette, neighborhood representatives • ­ 423 hotel rooms questioned the validity of the traffic modeling team did not have an accurate base map to work because it was based on two-year-old traffic from at the charrette. It was only 24 months later • ­ 19,400 square feet of business conference counts. The consultant and County planners that the engineering team discovered this fact. center, and decided to order new traffic counts to begin the The result, although it did not drastically alter the next day. This announcement to the neighbors charrette plan, did cause considerable rework that • ­ 2.4 million square feet of class A office was a profound moment because the County could have been avoided if accurate base maps acknowledged and addressed their concerns had been available during the charrette. Replication: quickly. An ad hoc second transportation meeting BART has 45 stations with Transit Oriented was then conducted during the charrette where Choosing the right consultant team development potential. Several others stations the traffic concerns of the neighborhood were The quality of the consultant team is critically are looking at using a similar model. put to rest. The success of the charrette might not important to the charrette process. A complex have been possible in a shorter time frame. project with numerous stakeholders and vast Partnerships: amount of information that needs to be quickly Public/Private partnerships played a key role in Strong political leadership synthesized requires consultants that exude this project, including Contra Costa County, BART, This project spotlights the benefits of strong confidence, technical abilities, good listing skills, the developer Millennium Partners, and Contra leadership from an elected official, Donna and the ability to gain the trust of stakeholders. Costa Redevelopment Agency. Gerber, who was able to initiate the process and In Contra Costa, an experienced and well help keep the project on track. Not only did designed charrette team was able to facilitate the

38 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development TOD Case Studies LAUDERDALE LAKES CHARRETTE

SUMMARY Broward County) there was also an interest in the project through an allocation of CRA Tax developing an integrated strategy for multi- Increment Financing and the community began a The City of Lauderdale Lakes, located 30 miles modal transportation and adjacent transit- rigorous public engagement process. north of Miami embarked on an ambitious oriented development. journey to establish a Community Master PROCESS DESCRIPTION Plan that would lay the groundwork for a new Lauderdale Lakes CRA Executive Director, Gary Lauderdale Lakes Town Center. Strong leadership Rogers, was familiar with the charrette process The Lauderdale Lakes Master Plan grew out of a from the City, an understanding of the charrette through prior work done by the Treasure Coast public 7-day charrette held in May of 2003. The process, and an innovative funding strategy are Regional Planning Council, also based in Florida. Master Plan captures the citizens’ vision for the transforming what was a sprawling vehicular- After a change in leadership, staff received the future of the City of Lauderdale Lakes. Local oriented crossroads into a community center and encouragement and support needed to jump- planners used a number of tools and strategies to multi-modal transportation facility. start the charrette process from the community generate widespread public involvement in the and elected officials. Funding was secured for process. PROJECT DESCRIPTION Lauderdale Lakes is situated in the middle of Pre-charrette Broward County, with two of the County’s most • ­ Charrette stakeholder outreach began in travelled roadways, State Road 7 and Oakland earnest with direct interviews of over 50 Park Boulevard, forming a crossroads at its center, with approximately 130,000 vehicles crossing this stakeholders, direct mail notices, postings, intersection daily. public meetings, and website notifications. ­ • ­ Elected officials were invited to attend During the 1970s, Lauderdale Lakes was the focus meetings, and they did. Because the of new commercial investment and population meetings were noticed, they were able growth as development spread westward and State Road 7 established itself as the primary to participate and have the kinds of open north/south retail corridor west of I-95. In the conversations not typically afforded during 1980s, however, as the region’s population moved regular council meetings. further west, investment started to leave the Charrette community or pass it by. City leadership, through the Lauderdale Lakes Community Redevelopment • ­ The Charrette was attended by over 250 Agency (CRA), saw an opportunity to engage residents, property, and business owners, the community, chart a new course for the representing a diverse cross-section of the future that reflected emerging needs, and take community. ­ advantage of the significant opportunities for • ­ The Treasure Coast Regional Planning redevelopment. With the highest use of public Council’s Design Studio and the assembled transportation (through bus ridership in all of Lauderdale Lakes Charrette Agenda

TOD Case Studies 39 team of planning and design professionals emerged as the central goal of the Master Following adoption of the 2005 Master Plan, assisted the citizens in studying the many Plan with clear strategies for expanded 73% of local voters overwhelmingly approved a challenges faced by the community, and transportation services, regulatory reform, General Obligation Bond of $15 million to fund proposed specific solutions. Ideas continued strategic investments in public infrastructure, many of the projects included within the plan. “If to develop and were brought up at future diversification of local retail offerings, you want to prove the public likes your planning, meetings for validation and for further input expanded professional services, and ask them to vote to tax themselves,” says Rogers, and refinement. increased local employment opportunities. Executive Director of the Lauderdale Lakes CRA.

• ­ Ideas that had widespread support or Post-Charrette Consequently, bond funds paid for the generated excitement rose to the surface, construction of four new parks, design and while some ideas failed to gain traction. For • ­ A series of final presentations by Treasure construction of new masonry bus shelters on example, during the charrette, one woman Coast Regional Planning Council staff was wanted to see an ice skating rink included held during the summer of 2003 to collect in the vision, so she wouldn’t have to drive further citizen and professional input. ­ BELOW LEFT: Broward County Lauderdale Lakes the 8 miles to the existing rink. Due to the Public Library and Community Education and Cultural extreme cost and lack of need, this idea did PROJECT OUTCOME Center. The project, which was completed for $6 million not resonate with the public and did not in 2010, is the centerpiece of the Lauderdale Lakes make it into the plan. The Master Plan was adopted in 2005 by the mixed-used development. BELOW RIGHT: One of 12 City Planning and Zoning Board, the Community masonry bus shelters that have been constructed, with • ­ Certain ideas were the subject of ongoing Redevelopment Agency Board of Directors and Federal Stimulus funds funding ten more this year. The debate. Alternatives were developed and the City Commission as a guide for future public bus shelters, which were a significant outcome of the presented to the community for review. In and private investment and community growth. charrette, boast the first real-time, solar powered, bus some cases, they public was asked to vote arrival time display in the county, wi-fi, and new limited with stickers for their preferred alternative. stop service for commuters traveling regionally. Visual preference surveys, which are set up as visual surveys with groupings of images, were used to gauge public opinion and inform consultants on issues such as architectural preference.

• ­ A presentation of work in progress was held in May. Residents, property and business owners, as well as city staff and elected officials were present. Work continued in the weeks that followed the initial public workshop.

• ­ Design and development of the Town Center Images from: J. Gary Rogers, Executive Director, City of Lauderdale Lakes Community Redevelopment Agency 40 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development TOD Case Studies main corridors, neighborhood traffic calming, Repeat meeting attendance one woman who wanted a trail along the canal. landscaping improvements, and road resurfacing. At the end of each informational meeting or This idea gained traction and was included in the workshop, local planners invited participants plan. She called all her neighbors and had them In 2008, to jump-start the private sector initiatives to come to the next meeting, and urged them vote in support of the plan and bond. This kind of and the development of the Town Center in to bring three neighbors. Because people liked response would not have happened without the particular, the CRA partnered with the City and what they heard at the meetings, and because of success of the charrette process. a private developer to construct a library and the direct ask to invite others, people responded mixed-use civic center on 25 acres of City-owned and came back, bringing family, friends, and Implementation strategies and knowing property. This privately financed development, neighbors with them. what to expect valued at $150 million, is under construction Because of the city staff’s familiarity with similar at this time. The Bella Vista project follows the Winning support with integrity projects in nearby communities where the conceptual plan developed during the charrette The professional integrity of both staff planners charrette process was employed, there was a and will contain 551 dwelling units, a village and consultants insured that the public’s ideas certain level of comfort with how the charrette green, a public Library/Community Education were heard and included. Planners cared about would operate and what the broad outcome and Cultural Center, a 5,000 sq. ft. clubhouse and the process, cared about the outcome, and would be: a master plan that proposed mixed- Olympic size swimming pool on a thirty-acre site communicated this with the community. At every use commercial and civic uses oriented toward with public transit facilities. meeting, planners made a direct appeal telling the pedestrian and multi-modal transportation. the public, ”We work for you. Its your town.” And Understanding the likely community goals INNOVATIVE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT asking them, “What do you want this place to and desired outcome of the public process, TECHNIQUES be?” People began to talk, to listen, and most City staff was able to spend significant energy importantly return to future meetings. making sure known problems were specifically Pre-charrette stakeholder meetings addressed in the plan, paving the way for future Prior to the charrette, local planners held focus LESSONS LEARNED implementation. Because of this targeted approach and focus on actionable items and clear groups with the economic advisory board, Charrettes as a marketing tool for change neighborhood associations, senior staff, and implementation strategies, Lauderdale Lakes Following the charrette, the CRA wanted to keep the parks board. These facilitated meetings has been able to accomplish most of the goals the momentum strong, and so put up for a vote were 3-4 hours long and included highly visual included in the Master Plan. a bond for $15 million. The bond would pay for presentations to help get people excited about many of the public investments included in the the potential for new development. Each meeting master plan created during the charrette. In an was open to the public as well and drew a overwhelming show of support, the bond passed minimum of 50 participants. These meetings with 73% voter approval. CRA Executive Director, laid the groundwork for the open and inclusive Rogers, gives credit to the charrette process for charrette process. building this kind of public approval. He mentions

TOD Case Studies 41 PROJECT DETAILS

Cost of charrette: $80,000

Source of funding: Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) TIF funds

Number of participants: 250

Current program build out: • ­ 20,000 sf of new civic space

• ­ 551 residential townhouse units

• ­ 12 new bus shelters completed, 10 more under construction

• ­ 2 miles of linear trail and approximately 45 acres of public parklands ­

Replication: Due to the success enjoyed by Lauderdale Lakes as a result of their process, three other areas of the state have established Commercial Corridor Collaborative models for area-wide and local planning based upon their model.

42 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development TOD Case Studies LIBERTY HARBOR NORTH

SUMMARY This lengthy and contentious legal entanglement Pre-charrette was eventually settled, with the City able to Liberty Harbor North is an 80-acre brownfield secure the Canal Street. The litigation did have • ­ Charrette stakeholder outreach included site located within Jersey City, New Jersey, that invitations mailed from the developers, the significant and unanticipated benefit of has been transformed into a 27-block, mixed-use e-mail, word of mouth, and letters to city, delaying the project, which in its first iteration neighborhood, benefiting from proximity to New county, state, and federal agencies. was based on a conventional suburban plan that York City and views of lower Manhattan. Despite a contentious relationship between the site’s had little support from the community. • ­ A very strong sense of community existed primary land holder and the City Redevelopment already, and people were generally Authority, the charrette process brought together Despite the eventual settlement of the legal cases interested in development planning. these and other key stakeholders, to generate an and the City’s acquisition of the Canal Street parcels, strong personal rifts kept the project • ­ Jersey City is a city of neighborhoods, ambitious project that has served as a model for all changing at their own pace, with the City and the region. at a standstill. It took a new administration and City Council leadership to convince the varying levels of activity. The charrette Redevelopment Authority to work with the benefited from two existing, well-organized PROJECT DESCRIPTION developer to jump-start the project. neighborhood associations adjacent to The City’s Planning Department did research on Liberty Harbor. Both were active and Liberty Harbor North is a half-mile west of the generally stayed involved in local projects. Hudson river on the north bank of the Morris urban design consultants and suggested the developer consider using Duany, Plater-Zyberk Very little effort was required to get these Canal. Two historic neighborhoods border the and Company (DPZ) because of the quality of groups involved in the charrette. site, including the Van Vorst neighborhood to the projects they were doing in South Florida. Liberty east and the Hamilton Park neighborhood to the Harbor Holding then hired the firm to conduct a Charrette north. community charrette process. • ­ The Charrette was attended by over 100 During the 1980s, redevelopment of the site was residents, property, and business owners, mired in a complex tangle. The site had been PROCESS DESCRIPTION representing a diverse cross-section of the community. identified as a redevelopment area, with the The Liberty Harbor North master plan grew out majority of land owned by a private developer, of a public, 7-day charrette held in March 1999. • ­ Targeted stakeholder meetings were Liberty Harbor Holding, and the remaining parcels Though the charrette was funded by a developer, held with adjacent land owners, the City under the control of the City Redevelopment the project successfully engaged stakeholder Engineering Department, environmental

Agency. The Redevelopment Agency obtained groups from the community, the City, the groups, light rail designers, and other key stakeholders. their parcels though a condemnation process, Redevelopment Authority, as well as County and which resulted in lawsuits between the owners State agencies, resulting in a widely supported • ­ Elected officials were invited to attend of the condemned land and the City as well as plan. A number of tools and strategies were used meetings, and many participated lawsuits between the primary land holder and the to generate significant public involvement in the throughout the process. Everyone who ­ City. process. wanted to participate was able to do so.

TOD Case Studies 43 Liberty Harbor North Charrette Schedule

• ­ The community was provided with with people siting over plans, sketching, ABOVE: The charrette is roughly divided into a design listening, and evolving the plan. phase and a production phase. The design phase numerous alternatives, which were considered during the first days of the features a series of technical meetings with key agency • ­ Because the site was within a redevelopment charrette. People were asked, “What do you and stakeholder representatives during which time the area, the City could require architectural design team creates a set of alternative concepts, on days want to see?” The charrette team took that standards. Architects were brought into one through three and the morning of day four. Once a input and drew plans. preferred alternative is developed, around the end of day the process to draw up different building four, the production phase can begin, starting on day • ­ Drawings were produced quickly following types, including town homes and flats, and five, in which designers prepare documents and drawings meetings, and represented what was provide choices to the public. The zoning for the final lecture on the last day. discussed. The process was friendly,

44 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development TOD Resources was also written to mandate that a variety of PROJECT OUTCOME architects were involved in the design of the The charrette was so effective at communicating project, which has resulted in a high quality feasibility issues that the developer was able to TOP LEFT: The new streetscape includes traditional front built environment. triple the density on their 80 acres from 2,500 to stoops. 8,000 units. The public understood that because TOP RIGHT: Corner buildings step up in height in concert • ­ Members of the two adjacent neighborhood the developer was willing to build a robust grid of with surrounding neighborhood patterns. associations participated in the charrette streets, instead of a suburban gated-community- BOTTOM LEFT: The new neighborhood is served by light and were so impressed by the quality of the type pattern, they would also need to increase rail. their revenue to pay for the increased cost of BOTTOM RIGHT: View of corners articulated by taller planning and design work that they were infrastructure. buildings that step out. content to attend only feedback review sessions. The project’s strongest opponents were also won over.

• ­ A final charrette presentation attended by over 80 people was held in the City Hall chambers, followed by a celebratory reception. Decisions and elements of the plan could be explained based on what the team heard directly from the community. The event was planned knowing that there was widespread support for the plan, and Matthew Lambert, Duany, Plater-Zyberk & Company Matthew Lambert, Duany, Plater-Zyberk & Company served as a culmination of the week’s events.

Post-Charrette

• ­ Because the plan was complete at the end of the charrette and the stakeholders were all happy with the final product, there was little need for additional public meetings following the charrette. ­

Matthew Lambert, Duany, Plater-Zyberk & Company Matthew Lambert, Duany, Plater-Zyberk & Company

TOD Case Studies 45 In addition to repairing the historic grid, the attitude. The process did effectively engage LESSONS LEARNED plan also included a large central park, several and win over the public. The developers now neighborhood parks, and a boardwalk along the wholeheartedly endorse the charrette process, An informed and empowered leadership river. which was able to produce what many agree is In the final moments of the charrette, lawyers the most beloved project in Jersey City. representing the Redevelopment Authority made The Redevelopment Plan was adopted an effort to change the plan and make the street unanimously by the Planning Board and City A clearly evolving plan, based on feedback network optional. Because City leadership had Council, following the public hearing process. Many people engaged in the process because of been involved in the charrette process from the Phase one of the project, between Grand Street the clear connection between what was said in beginning, and had listened to presentations and the Light Rail, is currently under construction meetings and how the plan evolved. from the consultant about the importance of with 4-story townhouses lining Grand Street and creating a street network, the City knew this critical element of the plan had to be required. development on the side streets increasing to 8 The Planning Board Chair and Vice Chair were The direct communication between consultants stories toward the waterfront. There has been a regulars, engaging in the studio activity every and a critical number of local leaders during a day. They, like members of the public, were able significant increase in light rail ridership. charrette is often integral to building long-term to express their ideas and like many were in love capacity through education. To this day, there is widespread consensus with the process. that the project is the best example of new Planning & building based on historic construction in the City of Liberty Harbor. And The number of charrette attendees grew over precedent the plan is still relevant and actively referred to the course of the process. People wanted to see Grand Street is a main transportation corridor even 10 years later. People were so pleased with the presentations and see the final outcome. If running through Liberty Harbor North. At the the final product, that now many people don’t feel a problem was raised during a meeting, the team would respond by saying, “Ok, we’ll change time of the charrette, Grand Street was a place the need to attend meetings about the project. to be avoided, with heavy traffic and vacant lots. They trust the outcome will be as promised. that.” People would then come back to see how the plan developed in response to the feedback. Despite historic buildings lining one side of the The process was not like a regular hearing where street, the client, City, and other stakeholders INNOVATIVE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT people just talk. They could see their comments were skeptical when DPZ urged them to face had an effect on the outcome. new buildings onto this corridor. They could not TECHNIQUES imagine the potential for this street to transform into a desirable place. Now, having followed Overcoming developer fear of public Meeting over lunch involvement the charrette plan and the recommendations to The developers incentivized public participation mirror the historic buildings with new housing, Going into the charrette, the developer had a by providing free lunch every day of the charrette. Grand Street has become a destination and fear of sharing the process with the public, and This was an opportunity for the developers, desired address. New 4.5-story multi-family worried about losing control. With support from officials, and the public to sit down over a meal, buildings with marble steps are so well designed their consultant, they were able to overcome which had the affect of leveling the playing field and built that residents of the City confuse the this fear and go into the charrette with an open and facilitating open conversation. new buildings for historic structures.

46 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development TOD Case Studies Charrette master plan still guides change Current program build out: a decade later • ­ 600 units (600,000 sf ) of fully occupied Because of the Master Plan’s overall success housing, 2/3 rental, 1/3 condo and popularity, it has survived over 10 years of administration changes and modifications to • ­ 500 parking spaces elements of the plan without any significant • ­ 35,000 sf of retail - 1/3 leased compromises to the spirit of the original vision. The City is now looking at one of the biggest • ­ Montessori school changes to the plan, the site of the Boys & Girls • ­ 2 approximately 12,000 sf parks Club. The building that houses this organization is relatively unattractive and is located at a gateway to the neighborhood. A recent opportunity will enable the Boys & Girls Club to relocate to another site, which will allow the City to remove this nondescript building. Though the Master Plan does not show how to address this situation, there is widespread agreement that a new larger building should be constructed and that the road ending at the site should be extended through the site to further increase the connectivity of the neighborhood. Despite the magnitude of these changes, there is no opposition to the plan because the public trusts the ability of the developer, City, and the charrette plan to result in positive changes on the ground.

PROJECT DETAILS

Cost of charrette: $150,000

Source of funding: Private Developer

Number of participants: 100+

TOD Case Studies 47 HIGH-TECH PLANNING TOOLS

TOOLS ANALYSIS OVERVIEW complexity and price. We encourage you to visit 3D Visualization: the ease, quickness and chosingviz.org (see box below) for a larger set of clarity of image The following pages describe a number of available tools. highly technical visualization tools that can be Indicators: the flexibility and responsiveness used during the charrette process by regional Being able to visualize the impact of land use of the tool to creating and/or revising indicators organizations, municipalities, non-profit choices can help insure that the best decisions during the charrette groups, consultants and developers to help the are made and that large groups of people arrive public understand the implications of specific at a common understanding of the challenges Public Interface: the tool’s capacity and clarity development proposals or broad land use and implications of regulatory, policy, and design- decisions on the future character of a place. based decisions. when used in hands-on workshops

Traditionally, charrettes have used hand-drawn Each tool has unique strengths that can help Real-time Capability: the ability for the tool renderings to provide the needed visual support assist communities and organizations in to be used during the compressed format of a for illustrating complex planning goals. This “low- determining how to best communicate with charrette. tech” graphic aid can be produced quickly and at a constituents through the charrette process. This relatively low expense, the quality of the product guide attempts to answer questions, such as The information contained in the following largely dependant on the artist’s technical “what is this tool about” and “how could this tool pages is meant to be used as a starting point to drawing skills and training in architecture and be helpful for my town or region’s charrette?” help better understand options for illustrating urban design. Hand-drawn renderings are also Each tool has a unique set of applications and planning concepts during a charrette process. a viable option for both street-level views and unique set of capabilities. For more information For each tool, you will find a brief description, bird’s eye views and can be used in combination including pricing for any of these tools visit each with the other more high-tech tools described provider website. samples of the graphics produced, and an “at a within this report. The nine tools discussed in this glance” overview of the tool’s charrette fit. For guide were chosen to represent various levels of This brief analysis of each tool specifically looks at more information on any of these tools, please how each tool performs in the following areas: refer to the websites for each product.

ChoosingViz.org In addition to the information contained within this report, there is an extensive on-line resource called Choosing Visualization for Transportation. This website provides a user friendly interface that allows users to enter baseline information about their public process, desired project outcomes, budget, and other criteria. Based on the unique characteristics of the project, the website will provide a list of potential tools and basic resources to help lead users in the right direction.

48 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development High-tech Planning Tools UNDERSTANDING THE VARIABLES Depending on the complexity of the tool and the and best evaluate the relative success of each amount and type of information it was designed alternative. Successful scenario planning at any charrette to process, there will be a range in costs that requires visualization tools with a high level may have an effect on the feasibility of using a Public Interface of clarity and ease of use for both professional certain tool for charrettes with a limited scope This category describes the ease with which the planning practitioners and the larger community and length. Some visualization tools are services public can understand and/or interact with the involved in the many stages of the charrette rendered for specific cases and with specific tool. A tool that generates images, comparisons, process. Tools that can produce alternative land criteria and thus have an individual cost each time and information that are obvious and that make use scenarios that can be easily manipulated are they are generated. Others are software packages sense to most people is naturally of higher valuable assets. While at the same time it must be that may have associated costs related to training, value to a charrette team than a tool that results recognized that a certain expected level of quality update maintenance, and tech-support. In in misunderstanding, disparate individual requires both time and effort to bring success. whatever form, each tool becomes applicable for interpretations, abstract concepts, confusion, and certain uses and for certain goals with cost being that requires a significant investment in educating The most useful scenario planning tools are highly one of the controlling factors. the public. scalable, with the ability to zoom in and out of a future land use scenario from the individual 3D Visualization Real-time Capability building lot, to the neighborhood, to the town, to This category evaluates the ease and ability of the region. The ease at which scenarios can be The real-time capability category evaluates each tool to generate 3D visualizations. Typically easily adjusted to move through different scales the ability of each tool to respond to real time 3D images show how a place will look from the provides a functionality that helps the public manipulation. Some tools are designed to use perspective of a person walking down a sidewalk understand the larger picture and to see how numeric inputs in order to quickly generate or a bird’s eye view looking down at a place. small decisions made at the local level have an alternative scenarios, while others tools require Different types of visualization tools generate effect a number of factors at the regional scale. tailored construction of each scenario essentially different types of 3D imagery and each will have from scratch. Tools that can be easily and quickly different strengths in conveying different types of Each tool for visualization, analysis and manipulated to show participants slightly information for various uses. education comes with a certain learning curve different alternatives of a future land use scenario for practitioners to overcome. Many tools were provide the best results for successful scenario Indicators developed as resources for particular employees planning. of the companies that developed them and the Indicators refer to criteria that can be used ease at which new users can quickly learn the to evaluate the outcome of various planning software is a hallmark of tools that will see wider scenarios. Typically, the indicators will be adoption professionally compared to those selected by a community in collaboration with that require extensive training and continued a consultant, in order to identify variables that technical support. will clearly relate to the values of a community

High-tech Planning Tools 49 INDEX www.crit.com

INDEX PlanBuilder is an interactive GIS-based planning support system designed to assist in community planning “AT A GLANCE” CHARRETTE FIT and development, including measurement of existing conditions, creation of scenarios, evaluation of alternatives, 3D Visualization and implementation of adopted plans. The tool benchmarks INDEX includes a “growth canvas” 3D visualization tools that allows users to stack existing conditions and then compares business-as-usual increments of growth, such as population futures against alternative scenarios created by users. or employment, on a location in the digital equivalent of stacking Lego building blocks. Use of INDEX in a charrette requires advance assembly and Through integration with ArcGIS, the organization of data for the geographic area in question. The companion program required for INDEX, the type and extent of needed data will be driven by applicable program can extrude the stacked data to create issues and indicators. Utilization of the program is entirely 3d maps of future growth scenarios. scalable from neighborhoods all the way up to entire regions. Indicators Alternative scenarios can be measured in real time as users make adjustments to INDEX has two levels of required user skill level: 1) a model mapped land uses by monitoring 50 possible steward with advanced GIS experience, and 2) general indicators from a range of categories including users with basic GIS familiarity. Model stewards should demographics, land use, housing, employment, have completed advanced ArcGIS instruction and have at recreation, and environment. least two years of experience using either package; general users must have familiarity with ArcMap. Audience members Public Interface without GIS experience can be supported by a steward or With a user interface designed for non- general users able to interpret desired changes using the technical audiences, Index can be operated software. on laptops at public meetings, allowing the public to make fine-grained changes to the underlying GIS data and periodically calculate INDEX was developed in 1994 by Criterion Planners as a tool indicators to get feedback about the direction for engaging citizens in local planning and helping to better the scenario is headed relative to objectives. inform community decision-making. Real-time Capability Fine grained plans can be sketched and scored in real time to enable rapid evaluation of alternative scenarios.

The tool performs its calculations at the building and parcel level, and scenarios can be assembled for blocks, neighborhoods, PLANNERS CRITERION BY IMAGES communities, and regions. Lower level scenarios nest within larger-scale scenarios. Images from INDEX.

50 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development High-tech Planning Tools CommunityViz™ www.placeways.com/communityviz

CommunityViz is an advanced, yet easy-to- use GIS based software designed to help “AT A GLANCE” CHARRETTE FIT people visualize, analyze, and communicate how different planning decisions will impact a 3D Visualization community. The Scenario 3D component of CommunityViz can quickly generate three dimensional models that perfectly correspond to plans generated Planners, resource managers, local and regional through Scenario 360 in GIS. Models can be governments, and many others can use viewed with Scenario 3D itself, ArcScene, a GIS CommunityViz to help them make decisions viewer, or imported into Google Earth. about development, land use, transportation, conservation and more. The software can be Indicators applied to a variety of scales, from the block to CommunityViz has an extensive database the region, and supports scenario planning, of impact and performance measures that sketch planning, 3-D visualization, suitability can help users choose alternatives that best match their objectives or desired outcomes. analysis, impact assessment, growth modeling Indicator categories include demographics, and other popular techniques. Scenario 360 is the core of CommunityViz, which can be used to set up alternative planning scenarios based on environmental sustainability, physical build out, and many more. Community Viz has two components: Scenario easily modified assumptions, dynamic auto-updating analysis, side by side scenario comparisons, dynamic 360 and Scenario 3D. Scenario 360 in an ArcGIS charts, and measurable indicators (top image). Public Interface In most cases, CommunityViz requires training extension that adds interactive analysis tools Scenario 3D allows plans to be viewed in 3-dimensions, to utilize its full range of capabilities and due to and a decision-making framework to the ArcGIS with fly-through capability (bottom image). platform and can be used to compare existing its integration with other programs for factors and potential scenarios, understand the impacts such as baseline information gathering and modeling of buildings, a specialists is needed to of making changes to a plan, and help illustrate interpret public input into the program. how a community might look down the road. Scenario 3D generates realistic, interactive, Real-time Capability sharable 3D scenes by transforming the two- CommunityViz can be manipulated in real time dimensional plans created in Scenario 360 into during a charrette but requires that certain interactive three-dimensional models, with fly- functionality within CommunityViz, such as through capability. indicator selection, construction of baseline scenarios, and development of standard CommunityViz was developed by the Orton building models, be generated in advance. Once set-up is completed, the software can be used Family Foundation and is managed by Placeways, live to instantly provide feedback about haw LLC. Placeways offers viewers a free download changes to a plan reflect desired outcomes. that permits anyone to look at the 3D models without having GIS. Images: Placeways LLC

High-tech Planning Tools 51 MetroQuest www.metroquest.com

MetroQuest is a highly interactive and visual “AT A GLANCE” CHARRETTE FIT approach to building community consensus around broad planning concepts. The MetroQuest approach uses digital kiosk, public 3D Visualization MetroQuest bridges the gap between the meetings with key-pad polling, and interactive general public and planning staff/decision- websites to gather feedback and inform the makers by representing complex information public about the impact of planning decisions. and counter-intuitive issues through easy-to- understand graphics, photos and language. With each platform, MetroQuest provides stakeholders with information about future Indicators land use choices and allows them to set their MetroQuest overs broad issues like land use, transportation and environmental policy, priorities. In real time, MetroQuest provides revealing outputs like mode choice, commute an outcome based on those priorities, shown times, greenhouse gas emissions and household using GIS-based regional growth maps and costs and is based on models developed by graphs, helping a community to understand the Institute for Resources, Environment and the impact of today’s decisions on the future. Sustainability. MetroQuest builds, compares, and evaluates alternative Public Interface MetroQuest focuses on four areas, surveying 40-year scenario simulations at municipal and regional scales. MetroQuest was designed to be easy and simple community priorities, transportation and urban to use, taking much of its inspiration from the planning, budgeting and finance alternatives, computer game Sim-City. With that in mind, and scenario exploration. creators strived to make the program as little like GIS as possible, highly interactive and intuitive Over 70 municipalities and planning agencies to use by the general public. have used MetroQuest to communicate the Real-time Capability long-term impacts of the various policy choices Attendees to public workshops can see the to non-expert audiences, leaving them with a effects of the ideas they have for the future sense of ownership over the result. development of their town or city in real time. Each participant responds to a series of MetroQuest was created by the Sustainable questions using a handheld keypad and the Development Research Institute at the audience’s answers are tabulated and used to University of British Columbia and is managed create a model of future development that can by Envision Sustainability Tools. If interested be projected onto a screen at the workshop. An online version of the same tool allows those that in using one of the standard configurations of can’t attend the workshops to submits their own software, new communities can apply to use ideas and receive instant feedback. the software for a limited time for free.

Images from MetroQuest

52 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development High-tech Planning Tools Envision Tomorrow http://frego.com/projects/envisiontomorrow.html

Envision Tomorrow is an innovative suite of urban and regional planning tools that can be used to “AT A GLANCE” CHARRETTE FIT model the development of buildings on a site-by- site basis as well as create and evaluate multiple 3D Visualization land use scenarios at a range of scales. Envision Tomorrow is primarily a tool for data generation but does output the information into easily read spreadsheets. The Return on Investment To conduct analysis, Envision Tomorrow uses a tool helps users understand the physical and four step process that begins with the creation of financial feasibility of a proposed development or prototype buildings, which can be easily modeled existing development regulations through a series of charts and graphs each tied to 3-D building and assigned numerical values for density, energy types being analyzed. usage, sales price, etc. Step two involves defining the “places” or transect zones based on the unique Indicators makeup of building types, street types, and Scenario Evaluation spreadsheets allow users to amenities. Step three allows the user to create examine a set of benchmarks based on scenario different development patterns or combinations build out. Envision Tomorrow uses a Return- of places to test the implications of decisions or on-Investment model to test the physical and financial feasibility of a proposed development or policies. And finally, step four compares alternative existing development regulations. The ROI Model scenarios using charts, graphs, and side-by-side considers a range of factors including parking, mapping. height and use requirements, costs associated with construction, fees, rents and subsidies. At the site level, this tool can be used to identify financially feasible development opportunities Public Interface and pinpoint ways to adjust existing land use Like most other GIS based scenario planning regulations to encourage new development. At programs, Envision Tomorrow requires some the neighborhood scale, various mixes of buildings amount of training for users to become competent and other attributes (e.g., streets, parkland) can be at its full level of planning functionality. Trained individuals should be used if public input is compiled to evaluate the implications of different planned to be analyzed during any period of public styles of development. These buildings and audience input. Results of selected scenarios are development types can be used to create land use typically presented to audiences using Scenario scenarios at the district, city, county, and regional Images from Fregonese Associates Evaluation spreadsheets that permit examination scales. of a host of benchmarks. TOP: The 4 step scenario planning process. Real-time Capability The Envision Tomorrow tool also includes the ability MIDDLE: Three growth scenario land use maps. BOTTOM: Computer generated images showing Building scenarios within Scenario Builder first to model the energy use, water use, and carbon involves modeling buildings in Prototype Builder footprint of potential development at all scales and the evolution of a TOD. and then assigning the building types across the includes an option to generate photo simulations of study area in different ways to create different land use scenarios. Once set-up of each scenario is specific sites. Envision Tomorrow was developed by complete, the tool allows real-time evaluation of Fregonese Associates. each scenario’s impact on multiple factors.

High-tech Planning Tools 53 iPLACE3s www.sacog.org/services/I-PLACE3S

I-PLACE3S is a web-based land use and transportation modeling platform for scenario “AT A GLANCE” CHARRETTE FIT planning. It can evaluate how alternative development approaches or transportation 3D Visualization The I-PLACE3S uses a real-time GIS tool to analyze investments may impact a number of indicators, and display the results of different land use including transportation patterns, energy usage, scenarios as a series of digital maps and data cost efficiency, and climate change. tables that effectively communicate results to the public and decision makers. The data generated in i-PLACE3S can be exported and turned into I-PLACE3S analysis is conducted through a web- tables, charts, and maps to help to clarify the based map display. This strong visual component trade-offs a community must make, the relative and interactive platform supports scenario difference among scenarios and provide a development and testing by non-technical users common yardstick for measuring land use plans. in settings such as public workshops and because Indicators it is web-based, I-PLACE3S requires no specialized I-PLACE3S offers a wide variety of indicators to hardware or software. compare complete scenarios or subareas within the same scenario. Categories include a diverse I-PLACE3S uses parcel level land use data for selection of demographic indicators including totals for and changes in population, employees, integrated, rapid analysis at the parcel, block, dwelling units, types of jobs, and many more. neighborhood, metro and regional level making it I-PLACE3S can incorporate data and provide feedback a valuable tool for land use planning at any scale. into regional travel models to illustrate regional Public Interface Because it is web-based, I-PLACE3S requires no transportation benefits resulting from alternative local I-PLACE3S exports both digital maps and specialized hardware or software. land use choices. statistical data tables. When properly presented to audiences, the differences between hypothetical future scenarios and current existing I-PLACE3S was developed in the public sector by conditions can be easily illustrated while changes the California Energy Commission, the California to indicator data are explained, allowing the Department of Transportation and the U.S. public to develop a well informed opinion for a Department of Energy, and is currently managed potential future path. by the Sacramento Council of Governments. Real-time Capability Normally, the range of possible scenarios is This tool is free to use once an account is created developed through feedback from stakeholders at http://places.energy.ca.gov/places/ although and the public before data is analyzed and i-PLACE3S must be used properly to achieve presented for final opinion. The work involved to allow i-PLACE3S to output multiple scenarios in a the desired results. The Sacramento Council timely manner takes place up front, primarily in of Governments strongly recommends formal setting up the base scenario the reflects current, training and provides it to their constituent existing conditions. Depending on the size of the members. Images from the Sacramento Area Council of project, statistical analysis time can vary. Governments

54 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development High-tech Planning Tools Autodesk usa.autodesk.com

Autodesk produces a number of CAD-based “AT A GLANCE” CHARRETTE FIT programs, including Autodesk VIZ, 3Ds Max, and Revit, as a suite of tools that can render 3D Visualization and model buildings, streets, and numerous Autodesk’s product line has a high learning objects found in the urban environment so that curve for users to fully utilize all of the even entire neighborhoods can be accurately capabilities that the programs offer. Typically, modeled in 3D. architecture and design schools have students interacting with Autodesk software early and often throughout their programs so that they The Autodesk suite of Computer Aided Drafting graduate with some level of competency. programs are widely used by architects for The ease at which someone can generate visualizations is directly relate to the experience building design, documentation, rendering and someone has had with these programs. spatial modeling. Indicators Autodesk VIZ (discontinued in 2008) and Revit, its The majority of indicator criteria built into replacement, have simple settings that produce Autodesk products are related to building materials and sustainability but limited to the high quality renderings from models of single building scale. Typically, when modeling entire buildings to complex assemblies of buildings neighborhoods, buildings are modeled as forming a neighborhood. shells where individual floors and rooms are Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company not detailed. Therefore much of the information that can be exported about building Autodesk 3Ds Max is a more robust program performance is limited due to the way a model for modeling, animation, and rendering, tuned is generated itself. specifically for architects, designers, and visualization specialists. The program can Public Interface quickly produce large production renderings and Autodesk products are known for their powerful ability to render line information into fly-through animations. photo-realistic 3D objects that bring a realistic look to modeled development scenarios. Autodesk programs have the ability to model everything from small objects to entire urban ArX Solutions \ Dover, Kohl & Partners Real-time Capability districts and therefore provided visualization at a Rendering CAD files into realistic quality, especially when dealing with large models the multitude of scales. The ability to depict different The level of detail included in Autodesk graphics relates size of entire city districts, can take a number scenarios is also wide ranging, but limited by to the specific application used and the amount of time of hours in the most extreme cases and available time and skill level of the user. and effort invested. Renderings are generated from CAD therefore limits the manipulation of scenarios based information and so are easily produced to scale quickly. That being the case, CAD products are and with ability to include significant architectural and often used to generate very high quality, final landscape detail. imagery for finalized plans.

High-tech Planning Tools 55 Visual Nature Studio www.3dnature.com

Visual Nature Studio is a GIS-based tool that produces photorealistic still images or animations “AT A GLANCE” CHARRETTE FIT of landscapes using digital elevation model (DEM) and geographic information system (GIS) 3D Visualization Visual Nature Studio specializes in 3D data as input. The software is typically used by visualization. The tool is ideal for considering cartographers, historians, foresters, land planners, the implications of landscape design, landscape architects, golf course designers, infrastructure, and issues dealing with civil engineers and other natural resource topography. The software has a heavy focus on professionals. the natural landscape, with an extensive model library of foliage and plants. The software has Visual Nature Studio provides tools to control the ability to import building data files, though visualizations directly from GIS data, simplifying these must be used with the platform of the and automating the process. The software natural landscape. provides extensive support of readily available Indicators terrain, 3D object, vector, point, image, image Because Visual Nature Studio is a GIS-based sequence and GIS data formats. tool, each image has associated geospatial data; however, this tool is not designed to easily Visual Nature Studio is typically used in situations compare the outcomes of alternative planning where vegetation or other natural features are an scenarios. important part of the planning exercise. Though the focus of this software is heavily weighted Public Interface toward natural landscapes, data files for buildings Visual Nature Studio is designed to be easily understood by the public. Similar to a hand-

can be imported from CAD, Sketch Up and other GIS or geospatial data is converted into a photorealistic LLC. FROM 3D NATURE, IMAGES rendering, these photorealistic images include modeling software and placed into natural image or animation that is easily understood by a non- many of the fine-grained details to portray a technical audience. scenes. The software does not currently have the complete visual picture of a naturalistic place. capacity to work within a primarily urban context such as a street, neighborhood, or city. Real-time Capability Visual Nature Studio can be used to produce Because of the time and detailed inputs required the scale of the building, though the level of detail detailed photorealistic scenes during a to develop each scene, scenario planning is remains constant. For individuals familiar with charrette. The speed of production depends not a strength of this software for use during GIS, the professional learning curve is minimal largely on the level of professional training. Scene set-up can take anywhere from 30 the charrette, though alternative views can be and many users are able to learn the software on minutes to multiple days and rendering times generated to provide users with unique choices. their own. can be just a few seconds to many hours, The program does allow for scalability, permitting generating a very simple scene or animation to movement within the set parameters of a scene, Visual Nature Studio was created by 3D Nature, a a very large or detailed scene or animation. zooming from the scale of the neighborhood to privately held software development company.

56 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development High-tech Planning Tools SketchUp www.sketchup.google.com

SketchUp is a 3D modeling program with a three- “AT A GLANCE” CHARRETTE FIT dimensional design and modeling environment that permits users to draw the outlines of objects 3D Visualization in a two-dimensional manner, similar to pencil SketchUp has the ability to generate an endless and paper (a process already familiar to them). number of “scenes” or views of a project from numerous angles determined by the user. The two-dimensional, planar faces created by a Scenes can be saved as part of the model and user can then be pushed and pulled by editing selectively reviewed or exported as images for tools within the environment to easily and public presentations. It is also possible to create fly-through animations providing another level intuitively create three-dimensional volumes and of context, unachievable in single images. geometries. Indicators SketchUp is easily scalable and can smoothly Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company SketchUp is primarily a visual rendering tool and the ability to evaluate one model from another transition between the building, street, is primarily aesthetic, however, because they are neighborhood, or city. three dimensional by default SketchUp models inherently provide a better understanding of spacial dimensions than hand-drawn or During a charrette, preliminary hand-drawn plans computer generated plan-view maps of can be scanned and pulled into SketchUp. A quick development scenarios. massing plan can be generated by extruding buildings and adding other 3-dimentional objects Public Interface SketchUp offers a wide range of visual styles for its from the 3D Warehouse. For more compelling models, all of which are designed to be quickly scenes, photographs of building facades can understood for models with a wide range to detail. be pasted onto building massings to generate Kenneth Garcia – Dover, Kohl & Partners photo-realistic views. Real-time Capability Elements within a SketchUp model (buildings, SketchUp can be used to show simple massings and the street lights, cars, etc.) can be saved individually. SketchUp is available as a free download, and in proportions of a street or it can be dressed up to show Thus, manipulation of their placement within a a Pro version that allows the export of models to details of architectural style or even street furniture. model can be easily handled. Similarly, SketchUp allows users to model on different “layers” that a number of other platforms such as CAD. Google Even more complex models will paste on photographs of actual building facades to create a more photo real can be turned on and off to depict different also offers a number of free training videos to get scenarios on the same block structure and street image. users started right on the SketchUp homepage. network. Components, layers and scenes can all be used to do live simulations, but because Unique to SketchUp as a visualization tool, models the model is not driven by data, manipulation can be exported as a file than can be opened with remains subjective and the real-time capability Google Earth, so that proposed development of any model requires anticipating changes the public might want to see as the model is scenarios can been seen in context. being built. Completed scenarios work best for visualization purposes.

High-tech Planning Tools 57 Photo Simulations www.urban-advantage.com

Photo Simulations are a tool generated using “AT A GLANCE” CHARRETTE FIT Photoshop, FormZ, and other graphic editing and 3D modeling programs for transforming 3D Visualization photographs of existing conditions at a Typically a specialist trained in the software community site into realistic visualizations used to generate photo simulations is needed to that clearly depict a desired future scenario. produce imagery of a level of quality that makes Most often used with street level views, photo simulations effective with the public. Despite the expertise needed, Photo Simulations have simulations make an imagined future scenario been found to be one of the most effective tools palpably real and understandable to the for connecting to the public at large. public. Indicators Photo Simulations are normally developed During a charrette, photo simulations can be through a series of feedback loops so that constructed over the course of a few days to show they accurately depict the desired form and how the community’s vision will look in three style of buildings and streetscape elements as dimensions. These snapshots can accurately determined by the client. Simulations typically depict a single future scenario, although represent how sections of a project or community phasing can be demonstrated, but in cases plan will appear when built, providing the public where multiple possibilities are depicted for with a non-threatening representation that has a single site, evaluation is typically aesthetic photographic believability. based. Public Interface A number of firms specialize in urban photo Public audiences have regularly demonstrated simulations and each have the ability to focus that Photo Simulations are a successful tool at different levels of detail, from the pedestrians for generating feedback from a community. Although the ability for the public to change view-point at street level to axonometric and simulations once completed is limited, the birds-eye views of redeveloped streets and infill ability of the imagery to instigate conversation development. Scale, however, is one of the first and generate feedback based on the change in decisions that must be made. In similar fashion, look and feel of recognizable locations is the real value of generating simulation imagery. the proposed look of any scenario must be discussed early and often during the process Real-time Capability of image creation so that the final product Images by Steve Price, Urban Advantage Photo Simulations require tailored construction for each possible scenario being depicted which accurately depicts the desired scenarios. Proposed phasing of a street in Richmond, Virginia. is often a significant period of time. One can TOP: existing conditions. MIDDLE: Public infrastructure expect to produce between one to three photo improvements. BOTTOM: Private investment and public simulations during a seven-day charrette. transit. The images resonate with a non-technical crowd and can also be used for marketing purposes.

58 The NCI Charrette System™ for Transit Oriented Development High-tech Planning Tools TOD RESOURCES

RECONNECTING AMERICA: TOD 203: Transit Corridors and TOD (PDF, 5.2 MB) http://reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/tod203corridors.pdf

TOD 101: Why TOD and Why Now? (PDF, 1.2 MB) http://reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/tod101full.pdf

TOD 201: Mixed-Income Housing Near Transit: Increasing Affordability with Location Efficiency (PDF, 2.4 MB) http://reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/091030ra201mixedhousefinal.pdf

TOD 202: Station Area Planning: How to Make Great Transit-Oriented Places (PDF, 2.6 MB) http://reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/tod202.pdf

TOD 202: Transit & Employment: Increasing Transit’s Share of the Commute Trip (PDF, 2.8 MB) http://reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/employment202.pdf

TOD Resources 59