Building Communities With Legos and Plastic Bottles

"'Many planning meetings are boring, contentious, and fail to stir people’s creative energy,' says Rojas. Even though planners consistently work closely with groups of constituents, they're stuck with the kinds of tools they like to use: maps, words and pictures. Well, not everyone can understand a complex map. Other people are uncomfortable writing. And even the physical tools—Post-It notes, simple blocks, whiteboards—that planners use during charrettes do nothing to get the imagination pumping."