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20І20
VISIONS
20/20_MASTER_PAGES_FINAL.indd 1 26/04/2018 14:56

20І20
VISIONS
COLLABORATIVE PLANNING
AND PLACEMAKING
CHARLES CAMPION

© RIBA Publishing, 2018
Published by RIBA Publishing, 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1NT
ISBN 9781859467367/9781859467350 (PDF)
The right of Charles Campion to be identified as the Author of this Work has been
asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 sections
77 and 78.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the
copyright owner.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Commissioning Editor: Alexander White

Project Editors: Daniel Culver/Jane Rogers
Production: Jane Rogers
Designed and Typeset by Ashley Western
Printed and bound by Page Bros, Norwich
Cover design: Kneath Associates
Cover Image: Shutterstock.com
While every effort has been made to check the accuracy and quality of the
information given in this publication, neither the Author nor the Publisher accept
any responsibility for the subsequent use of this information, for any errors or
omissions that it may contain, or for any misunderstandings arising from it.
www.ribapublishing.com

CONTENTS
VI 33 123
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHAPTER 5: CHAPTER 6:
20|20 Case Studies Lessons from the
IX 5.1 Santa Fe, 38
Case Studies
FOREWORD
Robert Ivy FAIA,
New Mexico, US
5.2 Belfast, 42
135
Executive Vice President Northern Ireland ENDNOTES
and CEO, American Institute 5.3 Perth, Australia 48
of Architects 5.4 Caterham, 52 137
Surrey, England IMAGE CREDITS
XI 5.5 Nashville, 56
PREFACE Tennessee, US
5.6 Scarborough, 60
139
INDEX
1 North Yorkshire, England
5.7 Reykjavik, Iceland 66
CHAPTER 1: 5.8 Vancouver, Canada 70
It's not enough to vote 5.9 Liverpool, England 74
5.10 Kew Bridge, 78
5 London, England
5.11 Lübeck Altstadt, 82
CHAPTER 2: Germany
A history of collaborative 5.12 Dublin, Ireland 86
planning and the charrette 5.13 Blaenau Ffestiniog, 90
process Gwynedd, Wales
5.14 Dunedin, 94
13 New Zealand
5.15 Wick and Thurso, 98
CHAPTER 3: Scotland
The importance of 5.16 Whitesands, Dumfries, 102
collaboration Scotland
5.17 Caddington, 106
17 Bedfordshire, England
5.18 Barnes, 110
CHAPTER 4: London, England
What is collaborative 5.19 Hangzhou, China 114
planning and placemaking? 5.20 Paddington, 118
London, England

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Writing this book has been a challenging but hugely enjoyable supplying background material and input on Charrettes in
undertaking and my wife has been there all the way to discuss Dunedin and Auckland. Thank you to Chip Kaufman and
ideas and concepts and encourage me. Thank you, Lisa. Wendy Morris from Ecologically Sustainable Design for their
support and help with the Midland, Perth case study. Thank
I would like to thank the following people for their inspiration, you to Professor Brian Evans and Graeme Pert who were
input and support. Thank you first to John Thompson, the so helpful with pulling together the Dumfries case study.
founder Chairman of JTP, the energy and inspiration behind Thank you to Fred London and Andreas von Zadow for their
so many community planning Charrette processes that I have support and input to the Lübeck case study. Thank you to
been privileged to be a part of. And to Harry “the Pencil” Chris Jones and Howard Bowcott for their support and input
Harrison, whose special talent to interpret and illustrate and for spending the day with me in Blaenau Ffestiniog
placemaking concepts and Visions is displayed through a
number of the case studies. I would like to thank managing Thank you to many others who helped with the case study
partner Marcus Adams and all the partners at JTP for research in particular Suby Bowden and Gayla Bechtor for
supporting the venture and encouraging me along the way. Santa Fe; Jonathan Davis, Roisin McDonough and Tony
McCauley for Crumlin Road; Kieran Kinsella and Brian Hunt
Thank you to Debbie Radcliffe for sharing much of my for Midland, Perth; Hunter Gee and Carol Pedigo for East
community planning journey over the last 20 years and for Nashville; Nick Taylor and David Kelly for Scarborough;
her invaluable input into the book as a whole, and certain Halldora Hreggvisdottir and Ari Geirsson for Urridaholt;
case studies in particular. Thank you to Bob Young for your Marina Khoury and Xavier Iglesias and Matt Shillito for
insight and humour during many of the processes - I learnt a River District; Ben Bolgar, Ben Zucchi, Jim Chapman, David
lot. Thank you to colleagues Adam Bowie, Dan Daley, Jenn Houghton, Dr Jane Ratcliffe and Eleanor Brogan for Alder
Johnson and Leigh Yeats for their help researching, obtaining Hey; Ruth Cadbury MP, Judith Salomon and Malcolm Wood
permissions and cataloguing the variety of images in the book. for Kew Bridge; Evelyn Hanlon and Ali Grehan for The
Liberties; Veronica Eastell for Dunedin; Scott Dalgarno and
Thank you to Robert Ivy from the American Institute of David Cowie for Thurso and Wick; Kevin Collins, Richard
Architects for taking time to write such an elegant Foreword. Stay, Edward Irving and Alison Tero for Caddington; Steven
Thank you to Angela Brady, past President of the RIBA for Mindel and Emma Robinson from Barnes; Shujie Chen for
inviting me to contribute to her “British Papers” in 2015, Hangzhou; and Nicholas Boys Smith for Paddington Place.
which led to me submitting a proposal to RIBA Publishing
for 20/20 Visions. Thank you to my colleagues at RIBA Thank you to those who took time to meet with me and
Publishing, in particular, my first Commissioning Editor Fay share their thoughts, experience and resources including,
Gibbons and her successor Alexander White for their help Andrés Duany, Bill Lennertz, Nick Wates, Paul Murrain, David
and advice along the way. Taylor, Nabeel Hamdi, Lynne Ceeney and Biljana Savic.
Thank you to Joel Mills and Erin Simmons from the American Like so many others, I am indebted to those who established
Institute of Architects for their invaluable research and the R/UDAT process in the United States 50 years ago and
input into the history chapter, for introducing me to the those who have spread the word and practice worldwide.
communities and places of East Nashville and Santa Fe and And to clients from the public, private and community/
for organising the Foreword from Robert Ivy. Thank you to third sectors who have commissioned Charrettes and given
Kobus Mentz and Susannah Goble from Urbanismplus. for communities the opportunity to express their creativity.
VI

TO LISA

FOREWORD
I n a digitally frenetic time, when architectural

technology has unleashed a plethora of unanticipated
formal solutions to planning, design and construction,
economically, have seen light and hope, as have
larger cities devastated by climatic events. In the US,
universities, municipalities, state and federal agencies
one humanely based architectural movement tied to have adapted R/UDATs, and mayors have been among
democratic principles has thrived. Known by the acronym their most fervent admirers.
R/UDAT (Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team)
this lauded programme has persisted for fifty years Millions of people today enjoy the results of charrette
and spawned participatory charrette methodologies processes worldwide, and they have influenced
that flourish today – in North America and the UK, and professional practice as well. In the US, for example, the
around the world. revitalisation of Portland’s successful Pearl District came
about through a R/UDAT, as did the Santa Fe Railyard
The relevance of democratic design is growing in this redevelopment, and the renaissance of tornado-hit East
second decade of the twenty-first century. At a time in Nashville, to name a few.
which societies all over the world are moving to cities
at an unrelenting pace, and for the first time in human During the past fifty years, technological innovation has
history, more of us live in cities than do not, the charrette exploded. We all look to see how new tools will affect
model offers an optimistic perspective and an invaluable future planning. The more humble tools that spurred
hands-on tool for city building. the earliest convocations, the ubiquitous pens and pads
and tape, have been joined by architectural software
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is proud to and communication tools that enable visualisation, a
have been associated with the development of charrettes way of seeing in three or four dimensions, or that allow
through the R/UDAT programme, and we applaud the collaboration to happen in easier, more seamless ways.
work illustrated in this book, which celebrates real results
through case studies that demonstrate the diversity and While the tools have changed, their fundamental
richness of successful charrette methods, at a time when purpose has not. The convening of citizens through
the world needs them more than ever. charrettes – enlightened, purposeful and committed
to design in its highest sense – offers hope for cities,
Created in 1967 by AIA member Jules Gregory FAIA, towns and neighbourhoods struggling to find new
and first held in Rapid City, South Dakota, the R/UDAT models. Its democratic message explicitly promises us
grew up and evolved in the civil rights era. Characteristic all that collective human intervention can be directed to
of their gestation in the 1960s, charrettes employ positive ends.
multidisciplinary teams of professionals to work with
communities on a plan for urban change using the
compressed timeframe. Today, after fifty years, over 150 ROBERT IVY FAIA
R/UDATs have been organised by the AIA throughout Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer
North America, and the charrette methodology has been of the American Institute of Architects (AIA)
accepted and translated around the world.
Neither size nor scale limit the application of charrettes.

Small towns and neighbourhoods, struggling
FOREWORD | IX

‘To get rid of the habit of thinking of
democracy as something institutional
and external and to acquire the habit of
treating it as a way of personal life is to
realize that democracy is a moral ideal and
so far as it becomes a fact is a moral fact. It
is to realize that democracy is a reality only
as it is indeed a commonplace of living.’
John Dewey
‘Creative Democracy: The Task Before Us’, 1939

PREFACE
I am always thoughtful when I walk through the doors

of my local polling station to vote in a referendum or
election. I think of my grandfather who fought in the First
understanding of the village context, and that included
sitting down and talking with the local community.
World War, and I think of my daughters and the world When our group returned to the studio at Huddersfield,
that they will inherit. I am fortunate to live in a mature, we intuitively drew up a series of analytical drawings.
representative democracy, and consider it my duty to These were extremely important in our understanding
vote – but voting alone is not enough. We should in my of the community, the site and its context. Unfortunately,
view also expect to be involved in creatively shaping we discovered that there was no scope in the project
our futures in far more direct and participatory ways to mark scheme for credits to be attributed to what was an
achieve better, more sustainable outcomes – and we excellent piece of collaborative work. The three years
must be given the opportunity so to do. degree was broad based and well delivered, but the
thrust of architectural training it seemed was for students
I became interested in architecture and cities through my to solo-design object buildings with little reference to the
mother’s encouragement to look around me and value community and context in which they would be sited.
my environment. My father taught me to respect and be
respectful to others, whatever their background. Growing On to Oxford Brookes University for two years’ further
up in the 1960s and 1970s I noticed council housing study, and in the second year I signed up for the
tower blocks being erected that appeared ugly, with Urban Design Diploma. This was a gamechanger, a life
surrounding landscapes that quickly became degraded changer. Lecture one was given by Ian Bentley, and
and threatening. Although people initially welcomed from the first word it all made sense to me: urban design
the new modern homes, these were not popular – transport, contextual buildings, streets and spaces,
developments in the main, yet somehow they passed landscape and water, and COMMUNITY and ECONOMY.
through the democratic planning system. Two or three Tracing back from Jane Jacobs’s The Death and Life of
decades later many of them were being demolished to Great American Cities and on through to Responsive
make way for more traditional forms of housing. Environments by Bentley, Alcock, Murrain, McGlynn and
Smith, efforts were clearly being made to rediscover the
I first became actively involved in my community when lost art of designing towns and cities around the needs
I noticed a new building in my town centre that jarred – I and aspirations of local people and communities.
couldn’t understand why the designers had chosen bricks
that wilfully ignored the colour palette of the rest of the I began working in London with John Thompson &
village. I joined the local residents’ association to try to Partners (now JTP) in 1996 and was quickly immersed in
make a difference. collaborative placemaking through Community Planning
Weekend (aka charrette) processes. One of the practice’s
Then, in 1989, I started at Huddersfield School of core beliefs is that ‘sustainable development is best
Architecture. During my final year of the Architectural achieved if the knowledge and commitment of local
Studies (International) degree course we went on an communities is engaged at every stage of the process’.
epic field trip to India, and were given a site for our final Twenty-one years on and I have been involved in
degree project in a village near Delhi called Begumpur. hundreds of participatory processes of various scales and
I didn’t know what urban design was at the time, but it types, both at home in the UK and internationally. I have
seemed obvious to me that we should gain a greater seen again and again that involving people can break
PREFACE | XI

ABOVE FIGURE 0.1: TOP FIGURE 0.2:
South Acton Estate Shahama and Bahia
Community Planning charrette, Abu Dhabi,
Weekend, London, UAE, 2006
England, 1997
MIDDLE FIGURE 0.3:
Tanjung Ringgit
EcoRegion™
workshops, Lombok,
Indonesia, 2011
BOTTOM FIGURE 0.4:

Transport for Future
Urban Growth
Charrette, Auckland,
New Zealand, 2016
XII | 20|20 VISIONS

down barriers, build community capacity, accelerate
the decision-making process and lead to better, more
sustainable places.
However, through my professional practice and in

talking to numerous people when researching the
case studies for this book, I have become aware that
most people simply have no idea that there is a tried-
and-tested methodology which could give them the
opportunity to participate meaningfully in the planning
of projects in their communities.
My aims in writing this book are threefold. First, I want

people, politicians and professionals to know that
there is an established methodology, the charrette,
through which planning and placemaking professionals
can work collaboratively with communities to bring
mutual benefit. Second, I hope to inspire individuals
and communities to demand the opportunity to
participate in shaping plans and strategies for their
areas to bring positive and lasting impacts to their
own lives and those of future generations. And third,
I hope that such participation becomes more
commonly used to build consensus and create more
innovative, sustainable and supported outcomes,
tailored to each and every community, wherever they
may be.
CHARLES CAMPION
RIBA AoU
2018
www.2020visionsbook.com
PREFACE | XIII

Sketch of a revitalised ‘100% corner’
from the East Nashville R/UDAT

CHAPTER 1
IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO VOTE
‘The public is usually ahead of the political system.’

JOE BIDEN, FORMER US VICE PRESIDENT

The vote for Brexit in the UK in 2016, the rise of far- to and actually matters. It also has the potential to speed
right leader Marine Le Pen in 2017 in France and the up the formal design and planning process overall.
election of Donald Trump in 2016 in the US are signs of
significant dissatisfaction with and disconnection from The word charrette is French for ‘little cart’. In Paris in
the political order in old, established democracies. This the nineteenth century, carts were sent around to collect
distrust of political institutions has arisen in parallel with the final drawings from students for display at École
a dissatisfaction with and disconnection from place- des Beaux-Arts. Students would jump on the carts to
planning processes. All too often the planning system complete the presentations right up to the deadline.
excludes meaningful input from communities, and is out Today the word has been taken to describe an intensive,
of step with what these communities actually need and collaborative planning process in which designers, the
want. It is time to change the way things are done and community and others work together to create a vision
to bring communities genuinely to the heart of planning for a place or development. The concept of placemaking
and placemaking. is used as a lens through which to assess issues and
propose actions – not just for physical plans, but for
Cities, towns and villages were historically the product social and economic solutions too.
of many local hands, as places evolved to suit the
economic, social and cultural needs of the community This book explores and promotes the benefits of
they served. However, the past few decades have seen participatory and democratic planning and placemaking
planning theory and practice move away from creating through charrettes. Its timing was inspired by the fiftieth
locally distinctive and responsive places, in favour anniversary in 2017 of the first American Institute of
of delivering an agenda often imposed from outside Architects (AIA) Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team
the community. Planning has become dominated by (R/UDAT). In 1967, in response to a request from the
professionals and politicians, and frequently it becomes business community in Rapid City, South Dakota, the AIA
adversarial as communities feel alienated, believing they dispatched a group of architects and planners to work
have no real power to influence outcomes. The creativity with the local community over a weekend to produce a
of communities is a huge but largely untapped resource. revitalisation strategy in an early charrette process. Over
the last fifty years charrettes have gone on to make a
There is, however, a tried-and-tested collaborative global impact by involving people in a form of participatory
planning methodology – the ‘charrette’ – which involves democracy – not relying on elected representatives to
people in shaping the places in which they live. But make decisions on their behalf, but having a direct creative
charrettes are not universally known, and have even input into and influence on the decisions themselves.
been described by some who have experienced them as
‘the best kept secret’. As well as the use of words and numbers, often the sole
tools of public debate and decision making, charrettes
The charrette approach to planning involves members add the medium of drawing, so vital when discussing and
of the community working alongside local authorities formulating proposals for ‘place’. People are empowered
and developers to co-create design-led, visual plans and to get on with designing and delivering solutions that are
strategies. It is an inspirational and energising activity right for their own particular area. Charrettes encourage
where the results of collaboration are seen immediately, joined-up thinking and holistic visioning, which in turn can
with the knowledge that each individual’s input is listened lead to appropriate short-, medium- and long-term actions.
2 | 20|20 VISIONS

A CHARRETTE IS:
■ An interactive, intensive dialogue and design process
■ A place-based exploration of change
■ A way to engage people’s knowledge of their area
■ A participatory and collaborative creation of a shared vision for the future
From a professional perspective, charrettes provide an The core of the book focuses on twenty diverse
efficient working process that enables design teams to international case studies, which include UK and
set up their studio in the location of the charrette and international examples of charrettes, with some involving
focus solely on the project at hand, covering a great deal JTP and others led by practices from around the world.
of ground over a few days. Contact with the community The case studies explain the historical, social and cultural
brings local knowledge and creativity into the process, and milieu of the places, the charrette process and the
helps develop plans and solutions that have wide support. outcomes, with comments from participants interspersed
throughout. There is discussion of key themes, and a
One of the key characteristics of charrettes is flexibility. description of the consensual visions that have resulted
The case studies in Chapter 5 illustrate the variety of from each process.
scenarios a charrette can serve, from co-designing
flood-protection measures, to masterplanning previously The book ends with an overview of the key lessons
developed, historically sensitive sites, and creating the learned from the case studies.
early vision for a Local Development Plan.
I have had the privilege of meeting and speaking with
The book begins with a historical overview of the many people while researching this book. In writing the
development and use of charrette methodologies, which case studies I have only been able to mention a small
began in the US and then spread internationally. number of those involved. People I approached have
been unfailingly generous with their time, and in offering
The next chapter is an exploration of why charrettes useful material. I would like to thank everyone.
are important, how they achieve holistic outcomes
through intensive multiday processes facilitated by a The case studies show that charrettes in all their guises
multidisciplinary team, and suggested ways forward for have been used as a valuable tool in a wide range of
promoting collaborative planning processes. circumstances. The process has inspired and involved
large numbers of people in many different countries;
Charrette processes are given different names and it has true global appeal. This book, and the stories
have subtly different methodologies, depending on the within it, should provide a stimulus for collaborative
practitioners involved and the countries in which they placemaking events, which I believe should be promoted
take place. Chapter 3 describes a charrette methodology to have the widest possible use, in the greatest number
in order to make clear its fundamental simplicity, but of places.
also the need for careful and inclusive organisation.
There is information about pre-charrette preparation,
and a generic example of a charrette illustrated with
images from a real-life charrette. The chapter concludes
with a selection of post-charrette follow-on scenarios,
all-important in maintaining momentum and continuing
community involvement in actually delivering and
managing the project. A question John Thompson, a
pioneer of Community Planning in the UK, frequently
poses is: ‘Who decides, who delivers and who maintains?’
CHAPTER ONE | 3

CHAPTER 2
A HISTORY OF COLLABORATIVE
PLANNING AND THE
CHARRETTE PROCESS
‘Cities are political ecologies.’

PETER CALTHORPE, CALTHORPE ASSOCIATES

The success of humankind on Earth is to a large degree energy-sapping travel, the team established a temporary
a function of our ability to socialise and to collaborate office on site and worked collaboratively with the school
in performing tasks such as hunting and building board over a few days to resolve the design. Bill Caudill
shelter. The African proverb ‘It takes a village to raise of CRS was interviewed in 1971. He recalled that by the
a child’ recognises the necessity of multiple inputs and end of the week, they had unanimous and enthusiastic
collaboration in nurturing and raising children for the board approval for the project: ‘While we were trying
mutual benefit of all members of the community. to solve a communication problem we discovered
something that we should have known all along – to
When telling the story of collaborative charrette involve the users in the planning process.’1 This novel
processes, historians often refer back to the Amish way of working proved so effective that CRS incorporated
tradition of barn raising – events in which community multiday Squatters into future projects as a way of
members cooperate to build a barn, or other structure, involving clients, users and a multidisciplinary team to
in a day. Typically, the eventual owner of the barn build consensus and support.
undertakes the advanced organisation, including site
preparation and ordering of materials, to ensure the best The 1960s was a seminal decade in American history,
and most effective outcomes from the cooperative barn- and marked a wave of civic engagement and service.
raising day. In 1961 John F. Kennedy’s famous inauguration speech
challenged Americans to renew their spirit of public
Nineteenth-century thinkers contemplated ideal human service, famously stating: ‘Ask not what your country
environments in response to the industrialisation of the can do for you, but what you can do for your country.’2
time, and its impact on population growth and creating Nothing was more influential on the emergence of
cramped and unhealthy living conditions in cities. William mainstream collaborative planning than the collective
Morris, Patrick Geddes and Ebenezer Howard were impact of the civil rights movement. The groundswell
all hugely influential in planning theory, and proposed of urban voices calling for equality and involvement in
models for balanced, communitarian living in harmony the decision-making processes surrounding cities was
with nature and to facilitate food growing. Buildings, impossible to ignore. Experimentation with new ideas
neighbourhoods and cities were viewed as being the and practices grew and evolved in response to the
product of many skills and many hands. It was seen tumultuous events of the era, and these included a key
that urban environments should be laid out to promote part of the charrette story, the R/UDAT.
healthy living, rewarding work and access to green space
and the countryside for food and leisure. Governance At the time, the critique of the status quo and
was a crucial factor in realising and sustaining such conventional thinking about cities was gaining
visions, with a key element being the active involvement momentum. Much of the criticism focused on the
of citizens in their neighbourhood communities. policies of the US urban renewal programme, which
had a devastating impact on many urban communities.
The origin of the modern, multiday charrette process The construction of interstate highways increased
has been credited to the Caudill Rowlett Scott (CRS) white migration to the suburbs, while simultaneously
‘Squatters’. In 1948 CRS, an architectural practice based creating physical barriers within cities. Highway
in Austin, Texas, was working on a school project in projects frequently led to the demolition of inner-city
Blackwell, Oklahoma. To avoid time-consuming and neighbourhoods and the displacement of poor residents,
6 | 20|20 VISIONS

and were used as a form of slum clearance. By the The individual credited with the idea for the first R/UDAT
1960s the impact of these policies was becoming clear, was the architect Jules Gregory, then Vice President of
and between 1949 and 1973 more than 2,000 projects the AIA. David Lewis described him as: ‘The great hero of
in cities had resulted in the demolition of over 600,000 modern American architecture. He stepped out and tried
homes and the displacement of over two million people.3 to lead a new idea, which was the idea of architects in
service to society.’
Jane Jacobs’s landmark work, The Death and Life of
Great American Cities, published in 1961, was highly The first R/UDAT project took place in June 1967, in
critical of ‘orthodox’ city planning. The book articulated response to a visit to the AIA by James Bell, the President
a series of principles for producing vibrant places, and of the Chamber of Commerce in Rapid City, South Dakota.
it expressed and demonstrated the value of the ‘citizen The downtown area had suffered from serious flooding,
expert’. She famously declared: ‘Cities have the capability and had also been in decline for years. James Bell was
of providing something for everybody, only because, and looking for help to produce a revitalisation strategy. After
only when, they are created by everybody.’4 intense discussions about the reasons for the decline, the
AIA agreed to send a team of four – two architects and
The design and planning professions responded to two planners – to Rapid City to give assistance.
these challenges by pioneering new approaches. In
1963, David Lewis and Ray Gindroz co-founded Urban The team met key stakeholders such as the mayor and
Design Associates (UDA), a firm with high ideals. As Lewis the city council, as well as local architects, the media
described: ‘At UDA, we learned a basic lesson from the and selected citizens. Meetings were informal, with the
groundswell of courage that lay at the heart of the civil intention being to hear all sides of the various issues that
rights movement and its dedication to the principles of were raised. The team then reviewed written information
democracy. Our accountability as urban designers has about Rapid City in the light of what they heard from their
always been to the voices of citizens and to their vision engagement with members of the community. They gave
for the future of their communities.’5 This democratic a verbal presentation of their findings, and a week or so
concept of design was revolutionary in the 1960s, as later provided Rapid City with a brief written report and
it elevated citizens to a co-designing relationship with recommendations.
professionals, and empowered them in the creation of
their communities. The process triggered unexpected changes. A planning
commission was established, which included one of
In addition to the enduring inequalities of the 1960s, the local architects. The city hired a full-time planner
the lack of any form of consultation or involvement and engaged a consultant to help. A wide variety of
with the residents who were directly affected by slum individuals, government officials, businesspeople and
clearance and highway projects led to a boiling point of ordinary citizens were made aware of important local
civic frustration, culminating in a wave of unrest. In 1967, issues, and learned to debate them together. Everyone
the US experienced what is commonly referred to as who was involved – including the visiting team – came to
the ‘long hot summer’, a series of over 150 riots in cities see that ‘in a few short and crowded days the community,
across the country, as anger at inequality boiled over. with a modicum of stimulus and help from the outside,
That year also saw the birth of the R/UDAT. had resources within it that it could learn to harness in
the public interest’.6
CHAPTER TWO | 7

The R/UDAT team was struck by where the experience establish its credibility.’8 At the same time, participatory
led them. It turned out that the most significant models began to be used in the international aid and
achievement of the Rapid City R/UDAT was not physical development sector, which had become over-complex
at all – at least not to begin with. It was the impact on and was often not dealing with problems in a way that
public policy that made the greatest waves, through reflected local conditions.
a process of democratic exchange. The value of the
process was clear to the AIA Urban Planning and Design Architect Nabeel Hamdi recognised that people receiving
Committee, which decided to offer the idea to other international aid were being treated as beneficiaries of
communities – and so R/UDAT was born. charity; many aid programmes were wasteful and lacked
dignity and social intelligence.9
In 1969, enough early work and experimentation
in participatory planning had occurred to enable Collaborative planning methodologies began to be
development of a theory of public participation. employed to co-design and co-deliver appropriate
solutions both in the built environment and in social
Sherry Arnstein published ‘A Ladder of Citizen provision and self-governance. As a consequence,
Participation’ in the Journal of the American Institute development programmes became more focused on
of Planners,7 articulating a framework within which to local problems and directed at local opportunities to
consider contemporary approaches to engaging citizens deliver achievable actions.
in public work. The different levels of involvement on
each rung, from Manipulation and Therapy on the bottom In the 1980s, the R/UDAT process gained considerable
two rungs, to Delegated Power and Citizen Control at traction with internationally adapted models. Events
the top, made it possible to understand the increasing in the US were noticed in Canada, and the Committee
demands for participation from the have-nots, as well as for an Urban Study Effort (CAUSE) was established and
the gamut of confusing responses from the holders of went on to organise and conduct projects in over thirty
power. This framework would become a seminal work communities during the following decade.
in understanding early mistakes in and the evolution of
collaborative planning. Charrettes were becoming known as a quick and efficient
design team-working process. Developer Robert Davis
As its most important philosophical principle, R/UDAT suggested a charrette methodology when developing
elevated the citizen as co-designer through its emphasis the proposals for Seaside, Florida with Andrés Duany,
on broad participation and a community-driven process. Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (founders of DPZ) and Léon Krier
because, in his words, ‘I didn’t want to spend a year
By 1971, charrettes were being openly promoted as developing a masterplan’. Speed and efficiency, two
a successful tool through the AIA Journal. The AIA’s of the key benefits of charrette processes, were being
support for such practices also marked a significant increasingly appreciated by the development sector.
development for the field of urban design. Ray Gindroz
from UDA noted: ‘R/UDATs as an official AIA function Meanwhile in the UK, following significant unrest in
meant that urban design was something that architects post-industrial cities in the early 1980s, a new community
were actively engaged in. It gave tremendous visibility architecture movement emerged, which embraced
for the profession of urban design and it helped community planning, community design, community
8 | 20|20 VISIONS

development and community technical aid. It came from As a part of the conference, an R/UDAT was organised to
a growing realisation that, despite the best intentions of focus on the lower Monongahela Valley in Pennsylvania
postwar planning, the poor design and mismanagement to open up the subject of how post-industrial communities
of the built environment was a major contributor to the might best face their challenges. A bi-national team was
nation’s social and economic ills. formed to collaborate on the project, featuring eighteen
professionals from the US and the UK. For the first time
This interest in co-design led to transatlantic UK-based architects saw in action this methodology for
conversations between the AIA and the Royal Institute working with communities to create plans and visions for
of British Architects (RIBA), and the formation of the their area.
Community Urban Design Assistance Team (C/UDAT)
programme. Although the C/UDAT programme was short- On returning from Pittsburgh, practitioners began
lived, the community architecture movement continued to organising charrette processes in the UK. In 1989, John
gain momentum. In 1986, the movement held a seminal Thompson facilitated the UK’s first charrette, the Vision for
event, Building Communities, the First International Bishopsgate Goods Yard Community Planning Weekend.
Conference on Community Architecture, which was
attended by more than 1,000 participants. Other practitioners also developed collaborative planning
processes, such as the Prince’s Foundation’s Enquiry by
The ongoing transatlantic collaboration culminated in the Design charrette methodology, and programmed their
Remaking Cities Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania events using combinations of activities that they felt
in 1988, which brought together 400 experts and citizens worked best for them, such as urban design community
from both sides of the Atlantic. The event was jointly training sessions, open-space dialogue workshops, site
sponsored by the AIA and the RIBA, with HRH The Prince walkabouts, facilitated design tables and plenary report
of Wales chairing the conference and delivering the back sessions.
keynote address. David Lewis served as co-chair, and in
his opening remarks he left no doubt as to the focus of Charrettes have come to be accepted for use at a range
the event: ‘This will be a conference about democracy, a of project scales, in both the public and private sectors.
conference about how to make democracy work, how to The effectiveness of the process has also influenced
improve our cities, how to improve our standards of life.’10 professional practice, with design teams adopting
charrette-style approaches for internal team working.
The event marked a historic moment not only in
thinking about post-industrial cities, but also regarding Working with communities is a natural and central part
the evolution of collaborative planning. Rod Hackney, of the philosophy of New Urbanism, and charrettes have
then President of the RIBA, suggested a new way of been adopted as a key tool by leading New Urbanist
doing business in the UK: ‘A partnership of enterprise practitioners.
is what I’m calling for, a partnership between builders,
professionals and politicians – local, state and national. DPZ developed its own brand of charrette process
And most important of all, with ordinary people – the and inspired a generation of practitioners, who spread
people who count, local people, who at the moment out around the world. Chip Kaufman, who organised
aren’t seen as part of any formula for success. But we charrettes for DPZ in the late 1980s and early 1990s,
must make sure they are.’ describes the spread: ‘It was like spontaneous
CHAPTER TWO | 9

combustion; the need was there.’ Chip and his partner In England, the localism agenda has substantiated that
Wendy Morris went on to deliver scores of charrette the public can have statutory control, and encouraged
processes around Australia and internationally from their communities to co-design Neighbourhood Plans to
base in Melbourne. Another former DPZ employee, Bill determine and promote development in their areas.
Lennertz, co-founded the National Charrette Institute in Civic Voice, the national charity for civic societies,
Portland, Oregon, dedicated to training and supporting has promoted charrette methodologies through its
professionals and communities. publication ‘Collaborative Planning for All’.
In 1993, many US built environment professionals, In Scotland, the government has been promoting and
concerned with prevailing anti-urban development funding charrette processes nationally since 2011, as part
patterns, in particular urban sprawl, formed the influential of the Sustainable Communities Initiative. Around the UK,
Congress for New Urbanism (CNU). The CNU advocates promoters of large-scale developments are encouraged
walkable, neighbourhood-based development and a to undertake visioning processes with communities,
commitment to ‘re-establishing the relationship between including design workshops, to help shape proposals
the art of building and the making of community, through prior to the submission of planning applications.
citizen-based participatory planning and design’.11
However, collaborative planning is still not universally
Charrette processes have focused not just on design recognised as the most effective way to approach
outcomes but also on establishing governance placemaking strategies. It remains an alternative to
mechanisms, such as Town Teams and Community Trusts. mainstream, conventional community consultation that is
Alan Simpson, also a participant at the Remaking Cities much more cursory in nature.
Conference in 1988, went on to head up the Yorkshire
Forward Urban Renaissance Programme, which was In recent years, there has been an attack on the use of
initiated in 2001. As well as working with communities collaborative planning that is largely motivated by poor
to co-design placemaking visions for their towns and experiences, which have resulted in controversy and
cities, the programme set up Town Teams, through which conflict. Nimbyism (not in my back yard) has grown as a
citizens were empowered to sign off public funds coming phenomenon, and many communities have developed
into their town. well-organised campaigns against development
proposals, making collaborative processes sometimes
Over the past fifty years, an entirely new orientation to difficult to negotiate. As a result, some professionals have
public work in our cities has emerged. The context and begun to advocate for a return to professionally driven
realities of urban work today are in many ways wholly placemaking, decrying the public opposition to their
different from how it was. Jane Jacobs’s The Death ideas as a stumbling block to achieving more sustainable
and Life of Great American Cities is now the de facto communities.
urban planning bible. It has sold over 250,000 copies
and has been translated into six languages. During the Advocating the old ‘top down’ ways is a dangerous
past half-century, R/UDATs and related collaborative path, however, which will inevitably lead to more
planning practices have influenced millions of people disconnect between built environment professionals
internationally and helped contribute to how we think and communities.
about cities, towns and villages today.
10 | 20|20 VISIONS

Others say that collaborative planning may no longer be While collaborative planning is not always an easy or
necessary because of technological applications which comfortable route to successful development, it exposes
gather user data so easily, and that this can define public professionals to the rigours of debate and questioning,
opinion at a much larger scale than most participatory which is crucial for professional development and
processes. However, much of the data accumulated democratic process.
is about an individual’s use of the urban environment,
and cannot serve visioning or collaborative planning As the case studies in this book demonstrate, most
purposes. Not all matters can be reduced to a binary charrette processes are run in an appreciative and
yes/no response. Creating plans requires an iterative positive environment. They should be properly resourced
process of collaborative discussion, clarification and and carefully programmed, with a clear mission statement
learning, which a click on an internet survey will never about aims and expectations and an acceptance of the
manage to capture. In practice, it will downgrade citizens value of robust debate. Clarity on how the process will
to mere consumers. continue after the charrette is also important.
Collaborative planning processes have as much or

‘Although there are increasingly more currency and relevance today as they did fifty
years ago. As David Lewis, the founder of much of the
sophisticated online engagement philosophy and experiments of the 1960s collaborative
planning efforts maintains: ‘Perhaps the most important
tools, nothing can replace face- gift of those decades was to return to us our passion for
to-face communication and joint democracy – a gift that today we need to refurbish once
again.’12
decision making through structured,
collaborative design processes, where
concerns and ideas are shared …
enabling local people to have a greater
understanding and sense of ownership
of the resulting policies and proposals.’
Biljana Savic
Churchill Fellowship Research, 2014
CHAPTER TWO | 11

Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
wife could not admire too much George’s delicacy about Mount
Vernon. While he made use of the servants and the horses and
carriages and boats, and everything else on the place, with the
freedom of a son rather than a younger brother, no word or look
escaped him that indicated he was the heir.
William Fairfax was a great resource to both George and Betty.
Living a whole summer together as he and George had done, it was
inevitable that they should become either very much attached or very
antagonistic—and luckily they had become devotedly fond of one
another. William was preparing to enter William and Mary College
the following year, and George bitterly regretted that he would not
have so pleasant a companion for his next summer’s work. Very
different were his circumstances now, the acknowledged heir of a
rich brother. But George determined to act as if no such thing
existed, and to carry out his plan of finishing the surveys on Lord
Fairfax’s lands. The universal expectation of war with France,
whenever the French and English outposts should get sufficiently
near, made him sure that he would one day bear arms; but he
prepared for whatever the future might hold for him by doing his best
in the present.
“BY DAYLIGHT GEORGE WAS IN THE SADDLE”
In February he returned to Ferry Farm for a while, but he had only
been there a month when Laurence Washington wrote, begging that
he would return, and saying that he himself felt utterly unequal to
carrying on the affairs of a great estate in his present wretched state
of health and spirits. Madam Washington made no objection to
George’s return to Mount Vernon. She realized the full extent of
Laurence’s kind intentions towards George, and that his presence
was absolutely necessary to keep the machinery of a large
plantation going.
In March, therefore, George was again at Mount Vernon, practically
in charge of the place. There was ploughing and ditching and
draining and clearing and planting to be done, and, with a force of a
hundred and fifty field-hands and eighteen hundred acres of arable
land, it was no small undertaking. By daylight George was in the
saddle, going first to the stables to see the stock fed, then to the
kennels, and, after breakfast, riding over the whole estate. It kept
him in the open air all day, and he began to like not only the life but
the responsibility. He had all the privileges of the master, Laurence
leaving everything to his judgment, and his sister was glad to have it
so. This continued until June, when, the crops being well advanced
and Lord Fairfax having written urgently for him, he turned affairs
over to the overseer until the autumn, and prepared to resume his
work as a surveyor.
He paid a hurried visit to Ferry Farm, where, although he was
painfully missed, things went on perfectly well, for no better farmer
than Madam Washington could be found in the colony of Virginia.
Indeed, George’s success at Mount Vernon was due in great
measure to applying the sound system in vogue at Ferry Farm to the
larger interests at Mount Vernon. Madam Washington’s pride in his
responsible position at Mount Vernon, and his still greater
responsibility as a State surveyor for Lord Fairfax, did much to
reconcile her to George’s long absences. Deep in her heart she
cherished a pride in her eldest son that was one of the master-
passions of her life. The extreme respect that George paid her filled
her with more satisfaction than the attentions of all the rest of the
world. Once only had they clashed—in the matter of the
midshipman’s warrant. She had won a nominal victory by an appeal
to his feelings, but she had no mind after that for any more battles of
the sort. So with tears, but with encouraging smiles, she saw him set
forth, in the summer of 1749, upon his second year’s work in the
wilderness.
CHAPTER XV
George’s second summer’s work was less like a pleasure
expedition than his first had been. He spent only a few days at
Greenway Court, and then started off, not with a boy companion and
old Lance, but with two hardy mountaineers, Gist and Davidson. Gist
was a tall, rawboned fellow, perfectly taciturn, but of an amazing
physical strength and of hardy courage. Davidson was small but
alert, and, in contradistinction to Gist’s taciturnity, was an inveterate
talker. He had spent many years among the Indians, and, besides
knowing them thoroughly, he was master of most of their dialects.
Lord Fairfax had these two men in his eye for months as the best
companions for George. He was to penetrate much farther into the
wilderness and to come in frequent contact with the Indians, and
Lord Fairfax wished and meant that he should be well equipped for
it. Billy, of course, went with him, and Rattler went with Billy, for it had
now got to be an accepted thing that Billy would not be separated
from his master. A strange instance of Billy’s determination in this
respect showed itself as soon as the second expedition was
arranged. Both George and Lord Fairfax doubted the wisdom of
taking the black boy along. When Billy heard of this he said to
George, quite calmly:
“Ef you leave me ’hine you, Marse George, you ain’ fin’ no Billy when
you gits back.”
“How is that?” asked George.
“’Kase I gwi’ starve myself. I ain’ gwi’ teck nuttin to eat, nor a drap o’
water—I jes gwi’ starve twell I die.”
George laughed at this, knowing Billy to be an unconscionable eater
ordinarily, and did not for a moment take him in earnest. Billy,
however, for some reason understood that he was to be left at
Greenway Court. George noticed two or three days afterwards that
the boy seemed ill, and so weak he could hardly move. He asked
about it, and Billy’s reply was very prompt.
“I ain’ eat nuttin sence I knowed you warn’ gwi’ teck me wid you,
Marse George.”
“But,” said George, in amazement, “I never said so.”
“Is you gwi’ teck me?” persisted Billy.
“I don’t know,” replied George, puzzled by the boy. “But is it possible
you have not eaten anything since the day you asked me about it?”
“Naw, suh,” said Billy, coolly. “An’ I ain’ gwi’ eat twell you say I kin go
wid you. I done th’ow my vittles to de horgs ev’ry day sence den—
an’ I gwi’ keep it up, ef you doan’ lem me go.”
George was thunderstruck. Here was a case for discipline, and he
was a natural disciplinarian. But where Billy was concerned George
had a very weak spot, and he had an uncomfortable feeling that the
simple, ignorant, devoted fellow might actually do as he threatened.
Therefore he promised, in a very little while, that Billy should not be
separated from him—at which Billy got up strength enough to cut the
pigeon-wing, and then made a bee-line for the kitchen. George
followed him, and nearly had to knock him down to keep him from
eating himself ill. Lord Fairfax could not refrain from laughing when
George, gravely and with much ingenuity in putting the best face on
Billy’s conduct, told of it, and George felt rather hurt at the earl’s
laughing; he did not like to be laughed at, and people always
laughed at him about Billy, which vexed him exceedingly.
On this summer’s journey he first became really familiar with the
Indians over the mountains. He came across his old acquaintance
Black Bear, who showed a most un-Indianlike gratitude. He joined
the camp, rather to the alarm of Gist and Davidson, who, as
Davidson said, might wake up any morning and find themselves
scalped. George, however, permitted Black Bear to remain, and the
Indian’s subsequent conduct showed the wisdom of this. He told that
his father, Tanacharison, the powerful chief, was now inclined to the
English, and claimed the credit of converting him. He promised
George he would be safe whenever he was anywhere within the
influence of Tanacharison.
George devoted his leisure to the study of the Indian dialects, and
from Black Bear himself he learned much of the ways and manners
and prejudices of the Indians. He spent months in arduous work, and
when, on the first of October, he returned to Greenway he had
proved himself to be the most capable surveyor Lord Fairfax had
ever had.
The earl, in planning for the next year’s work, asked George, one
day, “But why, my dear George, do you lead this laborious life, when
you are the heir of a magnificent property?”
George’s face flushed a little.
“One does not relish very much, sir, the idea of coming into property
by the death of a person one loves very much, as I love my brother
Laurence. And I would rather order my life as if there were no such
thing in the world as inheriting Mount Vernon. As it is, I have every
privilege there that any one could possibly have, and I hope my
brother will live as long as I do to enjoy it.”
“That is the natural way that a high-minded young man would regard
it; and if your brother had not been sure of your disinterestedness
you may be sure he would never have made you his heir. Grasping
people seldom, with all their efforts, secure anything from others.”
These two yearly visits of George’s to Greenway Court—one on his
way to the mountains, and the other and longer one when he
returned—were the bright times of the year to the earl. This autumn
he determined to accompany George back to Mount Vernon, and
also to visit the Fairfaxes at Belvoir. The great coach was furbished
up for the journey, the outriders’ liveries were brought forth from
camphor-chests, and the four roans were harnessed up. George
followed the same plan as on his first journey with Lord Fairfax two
years before—driving with him in the coach the first stage of the day,
and riding the last stage.
On reaching Mount Vernon, George was distressed to see his
brother looking thinner and feebler than ever, and Mrs. Washington
was plainly anxious about him. Both were delighted to have him
back, as Laurence was quite unable to attend to the vast duties of
such a place, and Mrs. Washington had no one but an overseer to
rely on. The society of Lord Fairfax, who was peculiarly charming
and comforting to persons of a grave temperament, did much for
Laurence Washington’s spirits. Lord Fairfax had himself suffered,
and he realized the futility of wealth and position to console the great
sorrows of life.
George spent only a day or two at Mount Vernon, and then made
straight for Ferry Farm. His brothers, now three fine, tall lads, with
their tutor, were full of admiration for the handsome, delightful
brother, of whom they saw little, but whose coming was always the
most joyful event at Ferry Farm.
George was now nearing his nineteenth birthday, and the graceful,
well-made youth had become one of the handsomest men of his day.
As Betty stood by him on the hearth-rug the night of his arrival she
looked at him gravely for a long time, and then said:
“George, you are not at all ugly. Indeed, I think you are nearly as
handsome as brother Laurence before he was ill.”
“Betty,” replied George, looking at her critically, “let me return the
compliment. You are not unhandsome, but never, never, if you live to
be a hundred years old, will you be half so beautiful as our mother.”
Madam Washington, standing by them, her slender figure
overtopped by their fair young heads, blushed like a girl at this, and
told them severely, as a mother should, that beauty counted for but
little, either in this world or the next. But in the bottom of her heart
the beauty of her two eldest children gave her a keen delight.
Betty was indeed a girl of whom any mother might be proud. Like
George, she was tall and fair, and had the same indescribable air of
distinction. She was now promoted to the dignity of a hoop and a
satin petticoat, and her beautiful bright hair was done up in a knot
becoming a young lady of sixteen. Although an only daughter, she
was quite unspoiled, and her life was a pleasant round of duties and
pleasures, with which her mother and her three younger brothers,
and, above all, her dear George, were all connected. The great
events in her life were her visits to Mount Vernon. Her brother and
sister there regarded her rather as a daughter than a sister, and for
her young sake the old house resumed a little of its former
cheerfulness.
George spent several days at Ferry Farm on that visit, and was very
happy. His coming was made a kind of holiday. The servants were
delighted to see him, and as for Billy, the remarkable series of
adventures through which he alleged he had passed made him quite
a hero, and caused Uncle Jasper and Aunt Sukey to regard him with
pride, as the flower of their flock, instead of the black sheep.
Billy was as fond of eating and as opposed to working as ever, but
he now gave himself the airs of a man of the world, supported by his
various journeys to Mount Vernon and Greenway Court, and the
possession of a scarlet satin waistcoat of George’s, which inspired
great respect among the other negroes when he put it on. Billy loved
to harangue a listening circle of black faces on the glories of Mount
Vernon, of which “Marse George” was one day to be king, and Billy
was to be prime-minister.
“‘NEVER WILL YOU BE HALF SO BEAUTIFUL AS OUR
MOTHER’”
“You niggers, livin’ heah on dis heah little truck-patch, ain’ got no
notion o’ Mount Vernon,” said Billy, loftily, one night, to an audience
of the house-servants in the “charmber.” “De house is as big as de
co’t-house in Fredericksburg, an’ when me an’ Marse George gits it
we gwi’ buil’ a gre’t piece to it. An’ de hosses—Lord, dem hosses!
You ain’ never see so many hosses sence you been born. An’ de
coaches—y’all thinks de Earl o’ F’yarfax got a mighty fine coach—
well, de ve’y oldes’ an’ po’es’ coach at Mount Vernon is a heap finer
’n dat ar one o’ Marse F’yarfax. An’ when me an’ Marse George gits
Mount Vernon, arter Marse Laurence done daid, we all is gwine ter
have a coach, lined wid white satin, same like the Earl o’ F’yarfax’s
bes’ weskit, an’ de harness o’ red morocky, an’ solid gol’ tires to de
wheels. You heah me, niggers? And Marse George, he say—”
“You are the most unconscionable liar I ever knew!” shouted George,
in a passion, suddenly appearing behind Billy; “and if ever I hear of
your talking about what will happen at Mount Vernon, or even daring
to say that it may be mine, I will make you sorry for it, as I am alive.”
George was in such a rage that he picked up a hair-brush off the
chest of drawers, and shied it at Billy, who dodged, and the brush
went to smash on the brick hearth. At this the unregenerate Billy
burst into a subdued guffaw, and, looking into George’s angry eyes,
chuckled:
“Hi, Marse George, you done bus’ yo’ ma’s h’yar-bresh!” Which
showed how much impression “Marse George’s” wrath made on
Billy.
CHAPTER XVI
Christmas at Mount Vernon, although it could never again be the
gay season it had been, was yet cheerful. The presence of Lord
Fairfax and George, of Madam Washington and Betty, revived the
spirits of the master and mistress. William Fairfax, now a handsome
young man of eighteen, and the same mild, manly, good-natured
fellow, was home from Williamsburg for the holidays. George had
never been to Williamsburg, where there was a viceregal court, and
where everything was conducted upon a scale adapted to a
representative of royalty. He was much impressed by William’s
description, and the two made many plans for a holiday together, the
next winter, in the capital.
“And we will attend the governor’s levee—but you must not be too
much of a republican, George, for the governor exacts viceregal
respect—and the assemblies in the great Apollo Room at the
Raleigh Tavern, and the lectures at the college by learned men from
England and Scotland. Ah, George, how you will enjoy it!” cried
William.
Lord Fairfax, hearing the young men talk, felt a desire to revisit
Williamsburg, a place where he had spent some happy days, and
soon after this conversation, when William had already returned to
college, he said, one day:
“I think, George, if your brother can spare you towards the spring, I
should like to have you visit Williamsburg with me. It is now twelve
years since I was there in the administration of my Lord Botetourt.
He exacted every mark of respect that would have been paid to the
king himself. I well remember his going in state to open the House of
Burgesses, as the king opens Parliament. He rode in a gilt coach,
given him by the king himself, drawn by eight milk-white horses—a
very fine show; but for all their love of finery and display themselves,
the Virginians are very jealous of any on the part of their rulers, and
many gentlemen who drove coaches-and-four themselves
complained bitterly of the governor.”
George was charmed at the prospect, and took the first opportunity
of broaching the subject to Laurence.
“I think it would be very advantageous to you to see something of a
viceregal court, and I will see that you have the means to make a
good appearance,” was Laurence’s kind reply.
“Thank you, brother,” said George, gratefully. “I will have things on
the place in such order that everything will go on as if I were here;
and as I shall come back for some weeks before returning to the
mountains, I can see whether my orders have been carried out or
not.”
Another summer’s work would finish all the surveys Lord Fairfax
wished, and it was understood that at the end of that time George
was to live permanently at Mount Vernon in charge of the estate.
Madam Washington was delighted at the idea of George’s advent at
the provincial court under such auspices, and Betty danced for joy,
and immediately plunged into a discussion of George’s wardrobe for
the great event.
“Timothy Jones, the tailor in Alexandria, has some fine green cloth,
out of which he could make you a surtout trimmed with silver, and I
saw myself an elegant piece of scarlet velvet from which a mantle to
wear to court might be made. And you shall have my best Mechlin
lace for your cravat. Ah, George, how I long to see you in your fine
clothes!”
“I should think, Betty,” replied George, smiling, “you would be more
concerned about how I will conduct myself with these great people.
You know, sometimes I lose my speech entirely, and become very
awkward; and sometimes I become abstracted in company, and
nobody’s manners are perfect at eighteen.”
“Dear George,” cried Betty, throwing her arms around his neck, “I
think of your clothes because that is all that I need think about with
you. In every other way you are sure to do us credit,” which made
George feel that Betty was the most good-natured creature alive.
“I wish you were going,” said he, presently.
“I wish so, too,” replied Betty. “But when brother Laurence gets well
sister Anne has promised to take me, and my mother has said I may
go,” for both George and Betty, with the optimism of youth, thought it
quite certain that their brother would one day be well.
The first day of February the start was made. The grand equipage
set forth, with the earl and George on the back seat of the coach and
Lance on the box. Billy rode George’s horse, and was in ecstasies at
the prospect of such an expedition. On the second day, in the
evening, the coach rolled into Williamsburg. It was a lovely February
evening, and the watchman was going about lighting lanterns hung
to tall poles at the street corners. George had chosen to make the
last stage with the earl, and was deeply interested in all he saw. The
town was as straggling as Alexandria, or as Fredericksburg, but
there was that unmistakable air of a capital which the presence of
the seat of government always gives. As they drove rapidly, and with
great clatter and noise, down Duke of Gloucester Street, George
noticed many gentlemen in both naval and military uniforms, and
others in the unpowdered wig of the scholar, which last he inferred
were professors and tutors at the college. Of collegians there were
not a few, and George noticed they always appeared in gangs, and
seemed to regard themselves as quite aloof from other persons and
slightly superior to them. As the coach drove quickly through the
Palace Green, with the palace on one hand and the college on the
other, both were brilliantly lighted. A couple of sentries in red coats
marched up and down before the palace—a long, rambling brick
building with its two generous wings, and its great courtyard with fine
iron gates. On top was a cupola, which was only lighted up on gala
nights. On both sides of the palace were spacious gardens, with a
straight canal, bordered with cedars, cut in the stiff, artificial manner
of the time, and with small summer-houses, in the form of Greek
temples, made of stucco. A coach was driving out and another was
driving in, while an officer, evidently an aide-de-camp, picked his way
along the gravelled path that led to the side where the offices were.
Opposite the palace towered the plain but substantial brick buildings
of William and Mary College, and a crowd of students were going
into the common hall for supper. It all seemed very grand to
George’s eyes, and when they alighted at the Raleigh Tavern, the
tavern-keeper, wearing silk stockings and carrying two silver
candlesticks, came out to meet them, and ushered them into a
handsome private room, ornamented over the mantel by a print of
his majesty, King George the Second. The tavern-keeper was not by
any means like the sturdy citizens who kept houses of entertainment
between Fredericksburg and the mountains. He “my lorded” the earl
at every turn, and was evidently used to fine company. He was
happy to say that he was then entertaining Sir John Peyton, of
Gloucester, who had come to Williamsburg for the winter season,
and Colonel Byrd, of Westover. Also, the Honorable John Tyler,
marshal of the colony, was attending the governor’s council upon
matters of importance, and was occupying the second-best rooms in
the tavern—my lord having the best, of course, according to his rank.
The earl was a little wearied with all this, but bore with it civilly until
the tavern-keeper bowed himself out, when William Fairfax burst in,
delighted to see them. William was neither so tall nor so handsome
as George, but he was a fine young fellow, overflowing with health
and spirits.
“The governor heard you were coming, sir,” cried William, “and
stopped his coach in the street yesterday to ask me when you would
arrive. I told him you had probably started, if my advices were
correct, and that you would be accompanied by Mr. George
Washington, brother of Mr. Laurence Washington, now of Mount
Vernon, but late of the royal army. He said he much desired to meet
Mr. Washington’s brother—for to tell you the truth, my lord, the
governor loves rank and wealth in his provincial subjects—and,
meaning to speak well for George, I told him a great deal of Mr.
Laurence Washington’s lands and other wealth, and he smiled, or,
rather, gaped, just like a great sheepshead at a bait.”
“William, you should be respectful of dignitaries,” was the earl’s reply,
although he smiled, while George laughed outright at William’s artful
working upon the governor’s weaknesses.
As soon as supper was over came a thundering knock upon the
door, and the host ushered in Sir John Peyton, of Gloucester, a
colonial dandy, whose pride it was that he had the handsomest foot
and leg in the colony. Sir John was very elegantly dressed, and
carried upon his left arm a muff, which effeminate fashion he had
brought from England on his last visit.
“Ah, my Lord Fairfax! Most happy to meet you,” cried Sir John,
affectedly. “’Tis most unkind of you to pitch your tent in the
wilderness, instead of gracing the viceregal court, where gentlemen
of rank and wealth are sadly needed.”
“Having experienced the hollowness of a regal court, Sir John, I can
withstand all the attractions of any other,” was Lord Fairfax’s quiet
and rather sarcastic reply.
Sir John, not at all disconcerted, helped himself with a jewelled hand
from a gold snuffbox, and then, leaning against the mantel, put his
hands in his muff.
“By all the loves of Venus, my lord, you and your young friend Mr.
Washington should see some of the beautiful young ladies here.
There is Mistress Martha Dandridge—odd’s life, if I were not pledged
to die a bachelor I should sue for that fair maid’s hand; and Lady
Christine Blair—born Stewart, who met and married Mr. Blair in
Edinburgh—a dull, psalm-singing town it is. Lady Christine, having
great beauty, illumines the college where her husband is professor.
And the lovely, the divine Evelyn Byrd, and Mistress Tyler, who is
one of those French Huguenots, and has a most bewitching French
accent—all ladies worthy of your lordship’s admiration.”
“No doubt,” replied the earl, gravely, but inwardly tickled at Sir John’s
ineffable impudence. “They would but slightly value the admiration of
an ancient recluse like myself, and would prefer my young friends,
Mr. Washington and Mr. Fairfax.”
Sir John, quite unabashed, now turned to the two young men, who
had difficulty in keeping their faces straight when they looked at him.
“Really, Mr. Washington, you must get a muff if you wish to be
comfortable in this cursed climate. I never knew comfort till I got one
in England, on the recommendation of Mr. Horace Walpole, who has
the divinest taste in muffs and china I ever saw.”
“I am afraid I cannot find one of a size for my hand,” answered
George, gravely, holding out a well-shaped but undeniably large
hand.
After much more talk about Mr. Horace Walpole, the lovely Miss
Berrys, and the company of comedians daily expected from London,
Sir John took his leave, promising to see them at the governor’s
levee next day. As soon as the door closed upon him Lord Fairfax
turned to William and said, testily, “I hoped I had left all such
popinjays as Sir John Peyton at court in England, but here I find the
breed flourishing.”
“Sir John is not half so absurd as he looks, sir,” answered William,
laughing. “He is as brave as a lion; and when on his last voyage
home there was fire in the ship’s cargo, I hear he was the coolest
man on board, and by his conceits and quips and jests in the face of
danger kept off a panic. And he is honorable and truthful, and he
really has much sense.”
“Then,” cried the earl, “he does all he can to disguise it!”
Their next visitors were Colonel Byrd, of Westover, and Mr. Tyler,
marshal of the colony, who ranked next the governor, and Mr.
Randolph, Speaker of the House of Burgesses. The earl received
these gentlemen with marked respect, placed chairs for them
himself, and entered into a long and interesting conversation with
them on the state of the colony. Both George and William remained
modestly silent, as became young men of their age, and listened
attentively. It was agreed among them all that war with the French
was practically certain. The colonies were thoroughly aroused, and
each of the visitors gave it as his opinion that the colonies were
willing to settle the question themselves without aid from the home
government.
“And when the conflict comes,” remarked Colonel Byrd, turning to
the two young men, “it is to young gentlemen such as these that we
must look for our safety, because, you may be sure, if the French
capture our outposts they will not be satisfied until they overrun our
whole lowland country, and they must be checked at the mountains if
they are to be checked at all.”
“My young friend, Mr. Washington, knows all about matters on the
frontier, as he has surveyed my lands across the Alleghanies for two
summers, and he is quite as familiar with the temper of the Indians
as with the face of the country,” remarked the earl.
This at once made George an object of interest to them all, and he
was closely questioned. He answered everything that was asked him
with such intelligence and pith that his new acquaintances formed a
high idea of his sense. He often referred to William Fairfax, who had
been with him the first summer, and William made also a fine
impression. They sat until midnight, talking, and Lance had to renew
the fire and the candles twice before the company parted.
Next morning William came betimes and burst into George’s room
while that young gentleman was still in bed.
“Get up, man!” cried William, shaking him. “Here you lie sleeping like
a log when you ought to be having your breakfast and making ready
to see the town.”
George needed no second invitation, and in a very short time was
making play with his breakfast in the sitting-room reserved for Lord
Fairfax. The earl was there himself, and the delightful anticipations of
George and William, which were fully shared by Lance and Billy,
brought a smile to his usually grave face.
Lance was simply beaming. A number of his old regiment were
enrolled among the governor’s body-guard, and the sight of a
redcoat did him, as he said, “a world of good.” As for Billy, he had
reached the state of nil admirari, and was determined to be surprised
at nothing. On the contrary, when the tavern servants had assumed
that he was a country servant, Billy had completely turned the tables
on them. Nothing in the Raleigh Tavern was good enough for him.
He pished and pshawed in the most approved style, treated Colonel
Byrd’s and Marshal Tyler’s servants with infinite scorn, and declined
to be patronized even by Sir John Peyton’s own man, who had been
to London. He called them all “cornfiel’ han’s,” and, as the way
generally is, he was taken at his own valuation, and reigned
monarch of all he surveyed in the kitchen, where he gave more
trouble than Lord Fairfax himself. However, one person could bring
Billy down with neatness and despatch. This was Lance, who,
although belonging to a class of white people that Billy despised, yet
was capable of reporting him to “Marse George,” so Billy was wary
when Lance was around.
At three o’clock the coach came, and the earl and George set forth
with outriders to attend the governor’s levee. It was the first time
George had ever seen the earl in court-dress. He wore a splendid
suit of plum-colored satin, with ruby and diamond shoebuckles, with
his diamond-hilted sword, and a powdered wig. George, too, was
very elegantly dressed, and as they drove up to the palace, amid a
crowd of coaches and chaises of all sorts, and dismounted, there
were not two such distinguished-looking persons there. George felt
decidedly flurried, although he had ample self-possession to disguise
it.
THE GOVERNOR’S LEVEE

They were met by the governor’s guard in the great entrance-hall,
who passed them on to an anteroom, where half a dozen lackeys in
gorgeous liveries bowed to the ground before them. A great pair of
folding-doors led into the audience-chamber, and at a signal from
within the doors were thrown wide, and they entered.
The room was large but low, and had on each side a row of
mullioned windows. It was crowded with company, but a lane was at
once made for the earl and George, who advanced towards a dais
covered with scarlet cloth at one end of the room, where Governor
Dinwiddie stood, in a splendid court-dress; for the governors of
Virginia assumed to be viceroys, and everything at the provincial
court was copied, as far as possible, from the same thing at the
Court of St. James. Ranged round the dais were the wife and
daughters of the governor with several ladies-in-waiting, also in
court-dresses with trains.
As the earl and George made their reverences they attracted much
attention; and when George stood back, silent and awaiting his turn
while the governor conversed with the earl, there was a murmur of
admiration for him. He was so manly, so graceful, his figure was set
off with so incomparable an air of elegance, that other men appeared
commonplace beside him. He seemed from his ease and grace to
have spent his life at courts, while, in truth, he had never seen
anything half so fine before.
The governor, having finished his conversation with the earl,
motioned to George, who advanced as the earl backed off, it being
inadmissible to turn one’s back on the governor.
The first question asked by Governor Dinwiddie was:
“My Lord Fairfax tells me, Mr. Washington, that you have explored
much in the Northwest.”
“I have, your excellency.”
“I should very much like at your leisure to have an account of affairs
in that region.”
“Your excellency may command me.”
“And I shall meanwhile have pleasure in presenting you to Madam
Dinwiddie, and my daughters Mistress Eleanor and Mistress
Katharine.”
Madam Dinwiddie, a comely dame, and the two young ladies
courtesied low to the handsome young man presented to them, and
Madam Dinwiddie said:
“I hope, Mr. Washington, that we may see you at the ball to-night.”
“I have promised myself that honor, madam,” replied George.
With the earl he then withdrew to the back of the hall, where they
found many acquaintances, old to the earl but new to George; and
no man or woman who saw George that day but was impressed with
him as a youth of whom great things might be expected.

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20 20 Visions Collaborative Planning

and Placemaking 1st Edition Charles

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I n a digitally frenetic time, when architectural

Neither size nor scale limit the application of charrettes.

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I am always thoughtful when I walk through the doors

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BOTTOM FIGURE 0.4:

XII | 20|20 VISIONS

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However, through my professional practice and in

My aims in writing this book are threefold. First, I want

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‘The public is usually ahead of the political system.’

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‘Cities are political ecologies.’

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Collaborative planning processes have as much or

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THE GOVERNOR’S LEVEE

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