ABSTRACT
The Community Development Workshop, now in its formative stages, is the name we have given to a collection of techniques designed to implement participation in the planning process. Synectics is a creative problem solving technique developed by William J. J. Gordon, President of Synectics, Inc. of Cambridge, Mass. A Synectics Group could range in size from three to about ten or twelve, depending upon the nature of the problem. Encounter micro-lab exercises emerged out of the work of a number of groups including Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California; Orion, Tarrytown, New York; National Training Laboratories, Washington, D. C. and Bethel, Maine and others. They have been applied in a number of contexts and for a variety of purposes ranging from pyschotherapeutic to management development. A major ingredient of the Community Development Workshop concept is technical gaming - the use of computer-based simulation games to enable planners, architects, engineers, government officials, and members of the community to work together.
