Below is an excerpt from “NCI Charrette Planner Training in Practice: The US EPA Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program” by Ilana Preuss of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. To read the article in its entirety, click here.

What has a multi-disciplinary team, stakeholder input, feedback loops, and a clear implementation plan — but is not a charrette? A different model for helping communities get development that meets their vision: the technical assistance workshop.

The smart growth program in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) applies this charrette-like model in the Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA) program. Through SGIA, EPA supports local, regional, and state leaders that are trying to implement smart growth policies. EPA uses a competitive process to select recipients with political will for making smart growth happen and clear steps to implementation.

The assistance model is based on many elements of the NCI Dynamic Planning process and the NCI charrette. Through the SGIA program, EPA project managers work with assistance recipients to identify key stakeholders, coordinate a multi-disciplinary team of consultants, provide a three- to four-day on-site workshop, and generate a feasible plan with realistic options to implement the vision. This process has been key to the engagement of key stakeholders and to the number of assistance recipients adopting options produced during the workshops.

Over its first two years, the SGIA process has generated more successful implementation of smart growth policies than previous EPA programs with localities. The EPA project managers and SGIA recipients attribute this success to the Dynamic Planning process that ensures a dedicated project manager, clear project vision, diverse stakeholder input, and on-site solutions that are feasible within the local community.

For the rest of this article, click here. For more information on the Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program, contact Ilana Preuss or visit the SGIA website.