Chris Kennedy invited to join Plan New Hampshire Board of Directors

Who is Plan New Hampshire

Plan New Hampshire, The Foundation for Shaping the Built Environment (Plan NH), is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization formed in 1989.

Plan NH has a Vision of a New Hampshire that is vibrant and healthy for its people, its economies and the environment.

Plan NH's role, or Mission, in achieving that Vision is to encourage good planning and design and development because, we believe, that what we build, and where and how we build it has a significant impact on that vibrancy and health.

UK Architects and Plan New Hampshire

Over the past 5 years members of UK Architects have volunteered to work on Community Charrettes undertaken by Plan New Hampshire in numerous towns in the state.  We have volunteered on Charrettes in Pittsfield, Littleton, Swansea, Rindge, Chichester, Hanover, Greenfield and Enfield and look forward to participating on many more in the future.

What is a Plan NH COMMUNITY DESIGN CHARRETTE? 

A Community Design Charrette brings together a team of volunteer members of Plan NH with community leaders, citizens, business owners and others related to a particular project.

Charrettes raise a community's awareness of:

• of the link between the built environment and the health and vitality of our communities
• that there are four distinct yet inextricably linked sectors of the community :  social, environmental, economic and  government. (thanks to Gwendolyn Hallsmith’s Key to Sustainable Cities)  and that decisions made generally affect all four.
• that while planning for growth and development is still necessary to a point, we should now be thinking about planning for change so that we can manage it, rather than react to it.
• that this target area plays a role for the greater community, and that the community influences and is influenced by bordering towns and the region as a whole.

Charrettes also allow for residents and leaders to discover what is happening in their community – from various viewpoints.  Thought this process it is possible for communities to find a common vision for a target area – common to citizens as a whole, and that  supports each of the four sectors as well as the Master Plan

The Charrette process reinforces to residents and leaders, community assets and opportunities that will contribute to a vision for a target area and it provides recommendations from Plan NH to bring the vision to a reality.