Integrated design for better projects

What is it?

The practice of urban planning today faces new challenges. The realization of truly sustainable development is not yet widespread, while needs and criticisms are rife. The shift away from traditional practice must therefore take place, but the question remains: Why isn’t it happening? How can it be achieved? The Integrated Design Process (IDP) applied to urban planning is an interesting way of achieving this.

The current context of professional practice still tends towards siloed projects, where synergy between the various stakeholders is almost non-existent, resulting in sub-optimal and limited measures. Others criticize its essentially linear conceptual process, where the various aspects of the project are thought through separately, resulting in strictly functional solutions. For example, traditional silo design means that municipal representatives are currently in a logic of reaction and disapproval when designing a project. This would also enable stakeholders, and more broadly the population, to move forward in concert by rallying rather than opposing skills, to the benefit of project quality. The benefits are clear in terms of acceptability, profitability and timeframes. It’s an iterative and rather synergistic process that generates innovative and sustainable solutions to which all parties adhere. So, how do you implement a CIP in urban planning?

Co-design activities

Integrated design aims to bring all the key stakeholders together around the same table, in a context of upstream collaboration. It’s not just about scheduling more meetings and trying to work as a team; it’s more about developing a real climate of trust and collaboration between all players, focused primarily on problem-solving, with the aim of optimizing each and every component of the project.

Increasingly used in the construction world, several work teams have developed different design activities, ranging from ice-breakers to meeting closers. The result today is a multitude of activity examples. However, some are better suited to the municipal and urban planning context than others. Here are a few examples, which you can put to good use at your meetings.

The co-design charrette

This widely-used method is particularly effective for designing a project, from the general concept down to the smallest technical issues. It’s an opportunity, in a short space of time, to make the most of the expertise of several specialists, and to bring out innovative concepts from the clash of multiple ideas that could not otherwise have been developed. These creative, high-intensity work sessions enable co-design based on efficiency and collective intelligence, in response to increasingly complex issues. During these charrettes, several co-design activities can be implemented.

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