Smart Growth Around America

Update, Monday 6/8: All free copies have been given away. You can purchase the DVD at the NCI website.

We’re giving away this DVD to the first 500 people that register. Click here to get your free copy.

“Just off Florida’s west coast, south of the Caloosahatchee River, there’s a tale of two cities. Downtown Fort Myers is humming with progress, budding with the fresh promise of revitalization, vibrant with possibilities. But just a few blocks away, it’s a very different tale. East Fort Myers is a community that feels forgotten. It’s a part of the Old Town, a part that’s seen more prosperous times in generations past. Now, wounded by economic hardship, crime, and a growing sense of hopelessness, this is a place desperate for change.”

— From the DVD

Click here to receive your free copy of this DVD.

Citizens of all stripes are encouraged to get involved in the planning process in communities like East Fort Myers to be a part of bringing positive change. But how does the process work? And what can make it less painful to get everyone on the same page in a community?

In a town full of people and their myriad ideas to consider, it can seem impossible for better things to ever come to communities that need change the way places like East Fort Myers needs it — but that’s exactly what charrettes are built to handle.

This DVD places you into key moments within the seven-day East Fort Myers, FL charrette. Hear what participants are saying before and after the charrette and witness how the charrette team takes a project from a blank canvas all the way to a developed plan. The DVD also tells stories from Ocean Springs, MS — following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina —and Providence, RI.

A charrette is a collaboration between the citizenry, a city or town and all the experts hired to make community improvements. For anywhere between a few days and a week, designers, planners, environmental consultants, and others listen to what community residents want for the future of their town or city and try to condense it into one preferred plan. The system of workshops, open design studio, and public meetings allows for everyone’s voices to be heard, and for a plan of action that everyone to contribute to.

Here’s a brief preview:

Courtesy of the generous folks at the National Charrette Institute, Smart Growth America is offering a free DVD with the East Fort Myers story to the first 500 respondents. To find out more about the charrette system and see what community transformation can look like—register here to receive your free copy.

This is a story you won’t want to miss. Register now to get your copy, before supplies run out!

Tags: Announcements, Charrettes, Planning, Video.
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