One of our largest challenges may be gaining the trust of community members. Without trust, consensus is unlikely.  In order to address communities’ distrust of public involvement, we should design the Charrette as an open, transparent, and targeted process that responds to the capacities, conditions, and dynamics within the community.  Open means inclusive, non-judgmental, and welcoming; transparency describes a consistent and “user-friendly” access to people and process.  Targeted means that we engage people when and where they feel most comfortable and interested – from scale of the block, neighborhood, and community, to the economic, environment, and social realms.  

We must demonstrate that we have listened to understand by tailoring each planning effort to the individual community’s needs, desires, and aspirations.  By showing each community member that the plan and process provide a tangible “something in it for them” rather than just a facilitation of, say, development interests, we help the community build the necessary trust and buy-in to reach support and a sharing of authorship for each plan.