Charles Campion: How we put people at the heart of the creative process

At its best, architecture can shape places where community and life, in all senses, can flourish. At JTP, our goal is to create places that are economically thriving, artistically stimulating, environmentally footprint-free and with a strong sense of identity. In short, places where people feel they belong.

All too often, ready-made, off-the-shelf design solutions are imposed on communities with little attempt to harness local knowledge, resulting in minimal added social value. JTP uses charrette-based co-design methodologies to inform our practice and put people at the heart of the creative process.

This unearths the real needs of the community, empowering stakeholders, creating goodwill and building consensus to deliver better solutions and enhanced social capital.

By using participatory techniques to create shared visions from the outset we, as architects, can create great places that bring truly sustainable community, economic and environmental benefits and deliver on social value.