A charrette (American pronunciation: /ʃɑːˈrɛt/; French: [ʃaʁɛt]), often Anglicized to charette or charet and sometimes called a design charrette, is an intense period of design or planning activity.

The word charrette may refer to any collaborative process by which a group of designers draft a solution to a design problem, and in a broader sense can be applied to the development of public policy through dialogue between decision-makers and stakeholders.

In a design setting, whilst the structure of a charrette depends on the problem and individuals in the group, charrettes often take place in multiple sessions in which the group divides into sub-groups. Each sub-group then presents its work to the full group as material for further dialogue. Such charrettes serve as a way of quickly generating a design solution while integrating the aptitudes and interests of a diverse group of people. The general idea of a charrette is to create an innovative atmosphere in which a diverse group of stakeholders can collaborate to "generate visions for the future".

The term was introduced to many in the Northeast US by a popular art and architecture supply store chain Charrette (1969–2009).

The word charrette is French for 'cart' or 'chariot'. Its use in the sense of design and planning arose in the 19th century at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where it was not unusual at the end of a term for teams of student architects to work right up until a deadline, when a charrette would be wheeled among them to collect up their scale models and other work for review. The furious continuation of their work to apply the finishing touches came to be referred to as working en charrette 'in the cart'. Émile Zola depicted such a scene of feverish activity, a nuit de charrette 'charrette night', in L'Œuvre (serialized 1885, published 1886), his fictionalized account of his friendship with Paul Cézanne. The term evolved into the current design-related usage in conjunction with working right up until a deadline.

The word charrette is commonly used to refer to any collaborative process by which a group of designers drafts a solution to a design problem, and in a broader sense, can be applied to the development of public policy through dialogue between decision-makers and stakeholders. In a design setting, whilst the structure of a charrette depends on the problem and individuals in the group, charrettes often take place in multiple sessions in which the group divides into sub-groups. Each sub-group then presents its work to the full group as material for further dialogue. Such charrettes serve as a way of quickly generating a design solution while integrating the aptitudes and interests of a diverse group of people. The general idea of a charrette is to create an innovative atmosphere in which a diverse group of stakeholders can collaborate to "generate visions for the future".

The National Charrette Institute (NCI), the premier charrette training organization in the United States, defines a charrette as a collaborative design process that involves all necessary disciplines at key decision points to produce a feasible plan. A typical charrette lasts at least three to four consecutive days, but could be as long as seven days, and includes three feedback loops. It is an open process that engages all interested parties, including context experts, content experts, and decision-makers. Additionally, the charrette is phase two of the three-phase NCI Charrette System. An NCI charrette is not a one-day workshop, a multiday marathon meeting involving everyone all the time, a plan authored by a select few that will affect many, or a "brainstorming session" that produces a plan but stops short of detailed feasibility testing. The National Charrette Institute (NCI), a unit within the School of Planning, Design, and Construction at Michigan State University, is dedicated to transforming the way people work together by building capacity for collaboration. The NCI is the only entity that trains and supports professionals and community leaders in the NCI Charrette System—an accelerated, collaborative, design-based process that harnesses the talents and energies of all interested stakeholders to create and support a feasible plan. Through research and publication, NCI continues to bring innovation to the process of transformative collaboration. Collaborative decision-making that is based on shared values produces holistic solutions. The work of the National Charrette Institute is grounded in four fundamental values:

The NCI's primary focus is on educating others to bring transformative collaboration to any strategic design effort.