Which description best captures the nature of a New Urbanism charrette?

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A New Urbanism charrette is an intensive, collaborative design session that actively brings together planners, designers, residents, business owners, public officials, and other stakeholders to rapidly generate and refine development ideas. It emphasizes participation, dialogue, and consensus-building, rather than top-down decisions or isolated surveys. The format is typically in-person, with facilitated exercises that run over a short period to produce tangible concepts, sketches, and potential directions that reflect community needs and New Urbanist principles like walkability, mixed-use districts, and human-scale public spaces. This approach contrasts with a top-down process or a single-night hearing or digital-only survey, which don’t foster the same level of collaborative ideation or buy-in. The best description, then, is a collaborative, participatory workshop with diverse stakeholders.