Hertfordshire will soon be leading the way for urban design. Who would have thought it? The Americans, apparently, who are eager to export their own brand of town planning forum, the “charrette”, across the pond. Charrette is French for “little cart”; in the 19th century, carts would pass L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris to collect architectural drawings and students would jump on to add the final touches to their work.

The first planning charrette in England takes place from June 24 to July 1 and is run by the University of Hertfordshire. It has invited the architect and urban planner Andrés Duany and his company Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ) to run the programme, in which councillors and business leaders will discuss with members of the public the future look of the county.

Duany and DPZ were instrumental in the rebuilding of Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina and specialise in building practical community spaces. Fans of conceptual design regularly deride DPZ's approach and have criticised its planning as pedestrian. For Hertfordshire, though, pleasant and unpretentious living spaces (see Bishop's Stortford, above) could be just the thing.

The planning charrette, dubbed “civic group therapy” by Time magazine, has become popular in the US because it allows a consultation process in which small groups present different design ideas. It sounds democratic but seems likely that the stakeholders' group may receive a little more weight in the dialogue than, say, the local residents' association. However, this has yet to be proven, and the Hertfordshire charrette may indeed introduce a more people-led way of laying out our homes.

In May the East of England plan was published, highlighting the Government's target for Hertfordshire to have 82,300 new homes by 2021. With 70 per cent of the county designated as green belt, it may take more than a week-long charrette to forge harmony between business, locals, the eco-lobby and the Housing Minister.

Times recommends

• Second homes: credit crunch casualty or money-spinner?
• How I built my own sliding house
• Top 10 incentives for house buyers