08 Mar Field Notes: Mayor’s Climate Charrette (part 1)

"Charrette" refers to any collaborative session in which a group of designers drafts a solution to a design problem. While the structure of a charrette varies, charrettes often take place in multiple sessions in which the group divides into sub-groups. Each sub-group then presents its work to the full group as material for future dialogue. Such charrettes serve as a way of quickly generating a design solution while integrating the aptitudes and interests of a diverse group of people. — Wikipedia, 3/8/10

And so it was. Mayor Leffingwell revived the "Community Plan" portion of Austin’s 2007 Climate Protection Plan by sponsoring a day and half charrette at City Hall, March 4 & 5. The meetings, which were led by partnership between the Mayor’s and Climate Protection staffs, involved more than 60 local community leaders gathered at City Hall. Professionals, city employees and grassrootsers (like me) from diverse backgrounds (transit, water, real estate, big biz, commerce, low income, UT, etc) got together to first define a common goal, then branch off to lay out objectives and metrics for guiding and measuring future progress.

I felt this was a very productive way to "get the ball rolling" on a community-defined climate protection plan.

Stakeholder-driven, government-supported, community-voiced — am I dreaming? … more of this, please! Austinites are fortunate to have people working at City Hall and within the city’s utility and service departments who consider themselves voters, too. The purpose of the grand event seemed to be to engage the democratic ideal:  citizens working together to tell their government what they want from their government.

The primary points of Austin’s first, local climate protection charrette emerged around investing in: cleaner air, more locally-produced electricity and transit fuels, more energy and auto efficiency, better management of local resources (i.e. water), and improving the quality of life for all.

More about goals we defined in "part 2" (coming later today).
Your comments appreciated.  

##

See the citizen’s petition for renewed climate leadership, in Austin: here.