25 October 2012

Community involvement in design discussed in symposium

Ways of putting people at the centre of the design process for their local environment will be discussed at a symposium to be held at the University of Dundee this Friday.

Planning and urban design experts will speak at the symposium ‘The Practice of Community Charrettes Design in the UK’, which is hosted by the Geddes Institute for Urban Research at the University.

A charrette is a method of bringing experts and users together at an early stage of the design process in a structured manner that is conducive to creativity. A successful charrette promotes joint ownership of solutions and attempts to defuse typical confrontational attitudes between residents and developers, and their use has become much more prevalent in the UK in recent years.

"A charrette is a way of bringing people together from the outset to ensure the design process integrates the needs of all stakeholders, be they residents, developers of service users," said Dr Husam Al Waer, organiser of the event.

"It is a way of transferring perceptions and to produce an effective masterplan. Putting people at the centre of the design process empowers them to design their own place, socially, economically and environmentally, which is particularly important given the current situation across the globe.

"This symposium examines the rise of charrettes over the past five years and how they are being used in the UK. It shall go on to lay out the best practice standards this representation of them as design-led instruments brings forward.

"There is broad recognition across government, practitioners and academics of the need to build community capacity and engage civil society more widely in the sustainable development agenda - particularly in the early stage of the master-planning process."

Speakers and subjects at the event include:

• Knowledge, Dialogue, Place - Sandy Robinson, Principal Architect, Scottish Government
• The Practice of Community Charrettes Design in England - Susan Parham, Head of Urbanism, Centre for Sustainable Communities, University of Hertfordshire
• Place Frameworks: Learning from Charrettes - David Thompson, Lead Officer - Urban Design Fife Council

The presentations will be followed by an open discussion of the changes required to achieve a culture of practice which can realise high quality living environments.

The symposium is a free event which takes place at the Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee, on Friday, 26th October. Registration takes place at 1.30pm, with the symposium taking place from 2-5pm.

Places are available for interested planning professionals - contact Jennifer Forbes, email: j.y.forbes@dundee.ac.uk.

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Grant Hill
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University of Dundee
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