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A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being introduced to the Rochester Regional Community Design Center . The RRCDC is a group of design professionals, planners, and citizens who donate their time to the purpose of designing Rochester’s public spaces. They offer their design guidance and recommendations to the city through public lectures, design charrettes , and an open-to-the-public design gallery/resource library at their studio on East Main Street. For anyone remotely interested in how cities are planned or issues surrounding urban renewal as they apply to the city of Rochester, the RRCDC is a must-see.

In January 2007, the RRCDC coordinated and facilitated a three-day design charrette for Center City Rochester. Held at Midtown Plaza, 138 local design professionals, along with community leaders and citizens shared their ideas in an unprecedented volunteer-based think-tank. The purpose was: 1) to generate ideas for the development of strategic sites in 5 geographic focus areas in the downtown, 2) to identify guiding principles as a design approach to revitalization of the built environment in the downtown, 3) to create a Center City Vision Plan to help guide future projects in the downtown, 4) to create an environment for economic rejuvenation and sustainable development in the downtown.

During the course of the year following, five design teams and approximately 55 design professionals, worked to refine plans and design schemes for sites in their focus areas. The RRCDC team worked on the overall issues related to items like circulation, connectivity, public realm improvements and green space and assembled a brilliant, comprehensive document entitled, “Rochester, NY, A Vision for the Future” . The report and the drawings it contains will no doubt serve as a basis for the City’s strategic plan moving foward.

If a design charrette sounds a little too intense for you, the RRCDC also offers an exciting schedule of lectures, exhibits, and discussions centering on how Rochester can revitalize itself through urban design.

Upcoming Lectures:

The New Green Cities:
A Model for Municipal Stewardship

Neighborhood Revitalization &
the Importance of Transit-Oriented Development

Current Exhibit:

Healthy and Happy Cities: Urban Design with Nature

Exhibit on view now through June 12, 2009
At The Design Gallery @ RRCDC (map it )

Tags: architecture, Center City, city planning, design, design charrette, downtown Rochester, environment, neighborhoods, New York, NY, public spaces, Rochester, Rochester Regional Community Design Center, sustainability, urban renewal, urban revitalization

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 9:53 pm and is filed under Rochester News, Urban Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.