One of the case studies in The Charrette Handbook takes place in Hercules, California. It chronicles a charrette that took place in 2000 to plan an urban center for the suburban town. Dover, Kohl and Partners created a form-based code that has successfully guided development under the charrette vision of a traditional town center. Since 2000, elected officials, planning commissioners and community members have come and gone but the effect of the charrette is still being felt today. A dramatic example of this continuity occurred recently when an auto-oriented multi-modal station was proposed for the designated mixed-use town center area in the Hercules Waterfront District. The community quickly organized to oppose the plan and showed strong support for an alternative New Urbanist plan that integrated the multi-modal station into a walkable, mixed-use environment. This was reinforced in several community meetings where both plans were presented and unanimous support was shown for the New Urbanist plan.

How is it possible that after over 8 years the community continues to understand and support the outcome of a charrette? The charrette successfully engaged the community in what is now a historic transformational event, the creation of the town center. The story and images of this charrette have been told and retold over the years both through the efforts of city staff and through community organizations. To this day, the persuasive photo transformation images by Urban Advantage serve as an inspiration to community members, both new and old. The auto-oriented proposal was a stark contradiction to the charrette images: images that had become institutionalized as a community vision. It never stood a chance.