Excerpted from Chapter 1 of Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities, by Patrick Condon.

Sustainability Is a Divergent Problem, Not a Convergent Problem 

Although they have phrased it differently, various philosophers, from Aristotle to Merleau-Ponty, have discussed the existence of two different kinds of problems: the convergent and the divergent. E. F. Schumacher, the British economist famous for his 1973 book Small Is Beautiful, describes these concepts in an accessible and succinct way in his 1977 book A Guide for the Perplexed. As he put it, convergent problems tend toward a single and perfect solution: the problem is described, evidence is collected, and the problem is solved. He uses the invention of the bicycle as his example, suggesting that it provides an elegant solution for the problem of "how to make a two-wheeled man-powered means of transportation." 

Schumacher suggests, however, that many other problems are more complicated. For example, "the human problem of how to educate our children" has two apparently supportable but opposing solutions. One solution would have us provide an atmosphere of discipline sufficient for experts to transfer information to children. If we are actively seeking the perfect solution implicit in any convergent problem, we might conclude that the perfect school would be one characterized by perfect discipline- that is, a prison. On the other hand, equally persuasive are those who find, on the basis of good evidence, that children respond best to freedom and find their own way to knowledge. In this case, the perfect school would be one that is characterized by perfect freedom-that is, "a kind of lunatic asylum."

Charrettes Provide a Method for Solving Divergent Sustainability Problems 

Charrettes can help solve divergent sustainability problems. To be worthy of the name, a design charrette must elevate the contradictions inherent in the divergent questions confronted in our drive toward a more sustainable city to a level higher than "logic" or "proof"-it must create an atmosphere in which contradictions can be resolved not by proofs, but by empathy, intuition, understanding, and compassion. Elevating and resolving these contradictions through the agency of empathy, understanding, and compassion is not something you do alone. You do this with others. 

The goal of any sustainable urban design charrette is thus to produce a design that embodies the higher-level empathy, understanding, intuition, and compassion of the design team in the form of a sustainable and implementable urban design plan. This is not to say that the resulting plans will perform poorly against measurable performance benchmarks, against traditional "proofs." On the contrary, we suggest that holistic, sustainable design solutions are best produced in an open-ended atmosphere in which empathy, understanding, intuition, and compassion can emerge. Such a broadly influenced design is unlikely to be perfect, but will probably perform better against a broad range of metrics than would a design produced by a small group of technical experts working within a narrow project scope. 

Copyright © 2007 by Island Press. Excerpted by permission of Island Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.