James Goff
UP 494
Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities, by Patrick M. Condon;
Washington,
Reviewed By James Goff
Many design professionals in the 21st century are involved in some facet of the sustainable design approach of what we know as “going green.” These professionals may know how to make certain elements of a site sustainable, but few have had experience with designing and implementing an entire sustainable community. There are many current books that offer sustainable construction methods for small sites, but Patrick M. Condon’s “Design Charettes for Sustainable Communities” thinks outside of the box. He takes a holistic design approach by not just dotting the landscape with unconnected, LEED certified buildings. Rather, he sees the bigger picture by offering solutions of designing sustainable on a much larger scale and gets everyone involved in the process through community design charrettes.
Condon’s ultimate goal of these meticulously crafted community projects is to slow down the rate of urban sprawl. He aims to connect communities together again where so many of America’s large, metropolitan cities’ urban centers are disconnected from the suburban areas that seem to spread out far into the countryside. Disintegration of a site in relation to its’ surroundings is an all too common theme seen throughout landscape designs in the U.S. Condon discusses how new sustainable community approaches should have a heavy emphasis on more densely designed housing, less amount of impervious surfaces (parking), and ultimately less reliance on the automobile, so everything one needs is within a reasonable walking distance. Condon’s brilliance is seen through his charrette goals which always strive to find a well balanced design that considers solutions not only for ecological issues, but social and economic factors as well.
Condon cannot seem to stress enough how important the community members are in the design process, if not more valuable than the actual designers themselves. After all, they are the individuals who live in the community that have important opinions and are essentially the clients in the case of these charrettes. It is in these community projects where it is not the designer’s ideas that are heavily valued. It is the client’s (community members) needs and wants that are carefully interpreted through the skillful designer that make a successful end product. Condon knows that community members would be happier with the end result where they had partaken in a community project where their voiced opinions became a reality, opposed to hiring out a private firm that would make the decisions with little community involvement. Collectively, it is the people that have the power to get sustainable designs of this magnitude implemented which can eventually lead to city wide by-laws and outdated policies changed.
Charrettes are successful for so many reasons, one being the time length of the project varying from 4-8 days depending on whether it is a visioning or implementation charrette. Condon shows how the short deadlines force groups to make solutions rather than questioning the reality of the proposal to see if it can actually be done. They are also successful due to the powerful people that attend these events such as land developers, city officials, ecological officials, and community members. It is the process of influencing these individuals, who have the power and wealth, to make a drastic change in the community because they may have the final say in whether a project gets implemented or not. Condon points out that it is not word documents or R.F.P.’s on paper that persuade city officials to spend money on projects. The charrettes change minds through hand drawings, aerials, and perspective drawings, not through words on paper. These drawings are tools that provide realistic images of the design proposal that have enough power to persuade individuals that possess wealth and power within the city to have the design carried out.
This book is essentially a “how to” book that takes one through the entire process from start to finish. Condon’s extensive experience with charrettes is what makes this book so precise in describing exactly how to conduct each step. From how much time each design stage should take, to who should be involved in each process, and how the solutions get implemented are what make this such a useful tool for anyone considering conducting a community charrette or planning on designing a sustainable community. His expertise truly shows through the precision and detail he uses in each step of the process including pre/post charrette activities to ensure the efficiency of the event.
Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities is a book that focuses on designing sustainably on a much larger, even regional scale, compared to sustainable site designs that are much smaller and disintegrated. Even starting at the neighborhood scale can lead to big changes in a community. This book challenges designers to find synergies between economical, political, and ecological issues in every project pursued. This is a great book that has concepts all designers should try to embrace and apply in their own work. This style is a way of collaborating with a community to design, influence, and change minds of people with authority who are opposed to changing traditional methods. This book shows how public movements actually can change public policies and through innovative, forward thinking can lead to big movements nationally.
