School of Planning, Design and Construction National Charrette Institute

The National Charrette Institute is pleased to announce the biggest revision to its curriculum since its development. In response to participant feedback over the years and a changing climate within which we work for positive community transformation, NCI is launching its new Complete Charrette System certificate training, which combines its System training with its Advanced management course and adds new content. The biggest changes include:

• Incorporating management and facilitation skills into the Charrette System Training. This inclusion means that the Advanced course is currently suspended.
• Value-add content from expert partners on public participation, facilitation, dealing with conflict, and equity and inclusion.
• The Complete Charrette System Certificate course provides all of the content required to successfully prepare for, manage, and conduct a charrette.

You will learn to activate the unique creative potential of all stakeholders by embedding them in the design process to co-create a transformative plan, while saving time and money. Whether you are working on a community design, public policy or a company’s strategic plan, this course will equip you with a flexible, yet replicable, systematic project management process.

Who should take this training?

This training is ideal for anyone involved in transforming communities and organizations, those charged with managing charrettes, or who may hire a consultant to conduct a charrette, including city and regional planners, public health staff, developers, architects, land and transportation planning consultants, citizen advocates, directors and project managers.

The NCI trainings consistently attract top practitioners in the field from across the U.S. and abroad. Based on past evaluations, 95% of participants report that they regularly apply what they learned in NCI certificate trainings to their daily practice.

Modalities

The NCI Complete Charrette Certification Training is offered in three modalities:

In-Person: These 3-day trainings are typically held in the spring and fall each year in various locations across the country. Enrollment is limited to 40 participants. Click here to learn more about in-person training for an individual.

Online-Synchronous: These trainings are offered several times a year. They blend ~10 hours of independent, online learning with 12 hours of live, virtual labs where participants practice charrette preparation exercises. Click here to learn more about online synchronous training for an individual.

Online-Asynchronous: This training is available at any time and is a self-paced course with about ~10 hours of content, plus independent work such as readings and exercises. Click here to learn more about online asynchronous training for an individual.

Check out our Events calendar for the latest training opportunities.

Learning Objectives

• Learn about what a NCI Charrette is and understand its evolution and adaptability.
• Recognize where the charrette lies on the public participation spectrum and key challenges a charrette can address.
• Learn about a model for community in reach.
• Explore ways to work effectively and authentically across differences.
• Recognize the 10 key characteristics and three phases of the NCI Charrette process.
• Explore the notion of cultural competency development being on a continuum.
• Generate program and policy examples at different levels of cultural competency.
• Practice skills, tools and techniques to prepare for and facilitate an inclusive NCI Charrette or other engagement process.
• Recognize tools available to help a community achieve charrette readiness.
• Know best practices for planning meetings within a charrette.
• Practice visioning design exercises employed within charrettes.
• Explore how guidelines can help build trust during a charrette.
• Practice facilitation of meetings within a charrette.