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WHAT IS CHARM?
CHARM is the Community Health and Resources Management mapping application (PDF). It gives local officials, stakeholders, and citizens the power to map and analyze growth with real-time feedback. When used with the weTable, it forms a powerful planning tool for engaging the public and gathering their values about the community’s future. The mapping application is supported with a library of mapping data about urbanization, storm surges, conservation, public facilities, and coastal resources. The CHARM application can leverage local community knowledge for better long-term planning, and is an ideal tool for communities, watersheds, and environmental projects along the US Gulf Coast.
CHARM WORKSHOPS
A CHARM workshop is a planning workshop for looking at long-term growth and development. How can we plan for a safe, resilient future? Where should growth be encouraged and where it should be avoided? What does the health of our watersheds and coasts look like with 5,000 new homes? 100,000? Where does it makes sense to grow sideways, where do we grow inward, and where do we grow upward? Which areas are particularly vulnerable to flooding and surges? What do we want to conserve for future generations? CHARM helps communities see how planning decisions made today will impact tomorrow’s environment and community. CHARM includes over three dozen indicators for assessing planning decisions.
Each workshop begins with a long-term population target and a time frame. Participants select areas on the map to target for development and apply a development style. CHARM takes that information and calculates in real-time a host of planning impacts. Each table works as a team to create their custom plan, all while exploring data, talking about what matters to them, and learning as they listen to others. The exercise continues until participants hit their growth targets. The final results can be compiled and tables can share strategies and ideas. Input and priorities gathered from the workshop are used to inform the development of planning recommendations.
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