Waitakere project trial
Project trial: urban design exercise
Purpose and process
Waitakere City Council ran an intensive consultation and design process called the New Lynn charette. The five-day charette aimed to establish a design for the town centre, and encourage debate on transport and land use.
The charette ran over five days and included slideshow presentations, ‘three questions’ focus groups, and public design sessions. It ended with a presentation of design ideas for New Lynn, developed during the charette.
Using the three questions
The charette began with a slideshow presentation about ‘sustainable urban development’, which combines environmental and economic objectives. Participants then separated into focus groups and considered the three questions:
- What do you like about New Lynn?
- What don’t you like about New Lynn?
- How would you like to see New Lynn change?
The ideas coming out of the focus groups formed the basis for the design phase of the charette.
Designing a new town centre
The following days were taken up with intensive design work, interviews with government and community agencies, and discussion with members of the public who visited the open design studio. Design groups produced specific plans for different parts of the town centre.
The charette finished with a presentation of these designs for the New Lynn town centre.
Following the charette, the list of qualities was used to summarise the important issues for the New Lynn community. The Urban Amenity Project’s framework for managing and monitoring urban amenity was used to create a community plan for New Lynn, and develop a monitoring strategy. The framework was seen as a useful ‘toolkit’ to help define urban amenity at the local level.
Lessons learned
Professional planners and developers must be involved in an intensive consultation process like a charette. Members of the community will want different things, and professionals are able to guide people through the choices they need to make to get the outcomes they want.
The charette was a very successful way to include a large cross-section of the community. However, its intensive nature means that some issues may have been overlooked.
