Tag: livable city

A holiday tradition revived: Seasonal lights on Plummer Building

December 5, 2013General

What other holiday traditions – new or old – would add vibrancy in and around downtown Rochester? Share your ideas here!

In recognition of Mayo Clinic’s sesquicentennial, a holiday tradition will be revived: the seasonal lighting of the historic Plummer Building in Rochester.

Every December from 1950 to 1956, Mayo Clinic displayed a Christmas tree in lights on the south wall of the Plummer Building, facing Second Street Southwest. Mayo electrician Fred Reed and his colleagues planned the annual designs. Night watchmen, as Security personnel were called, manually turned on lights to create the tree pattern each night. From year to year, the tree design varied: all-white, red and green, and white with colored accents. This description from 1950 suggests the extent of the project:

Formed by 60 lighted windows, the tree stands 128 feet high and 131 feet wide. On top of the tree, which extends from the fourth floor through the twelfth, is a five-pointed star of plywood with a light on each point and one in the center.

In 1957, the Mayo Clinic staff publication Mayovox announced the end of this popular tradition: “Not for lack of effort by Engineering Maintenance and the Electrical Department, but because remodeling on many floors has so changed the pattern of lights that it just isn’t possible anymore.”

In the 1960s and early 1970s, an illuminated star was placed in the Plummer Building bell tower. Amid the oil crises of the 1970s, Mayo Clinic ended this custom.

The 2013 illumination will use energy-efficient, LED technology and restore a long-lost glow to the Rochester campus. Once again, the lighting will appear on the Plummer South wall facing Second Street Southwest and will shine daily from 4:30 p.m. to 8 a.m. CST through Dec. 31. Also, while displays in the 1950s lasted for only a few days around Dec. 25, this illumination will cover nearly four weeks during the holiday season.

-Reprinted from This Week at Mayo Clinic

Rochester: One of America’s most livable cities?

August 16, 2013General

This week’s DMC blog content focused on “Livable City” – one of 7 areas of focus for DMC.

For many Rochester residents, high speed rail connecting Rochester and the Twin Cities, more street markets and performing arts venues are key components to a livable downtown. In this featured article, Freiburg, Germany has been named the world’s most livable city. The article highlights the city’s components of a livable city:

1. Development of Pedestrian Zone
2. Transportation Planning
3. Farmers’ Market
4. Festivals and Street Entertainers
5. Renewable energy, solar industry, photo-voltaics, and water quality
6. Design of a new urban neighborhood

In this article, Travel and Leisure highlights America’s greatest main streets. They all have things in common. They’re smaller communities – no major metropolitan areas. They place emphasis and value on features such as walkability, community-based businesses, architecture and vibrancy.

Clicking through both articles inspires many ideas for Rochester’s future. What are your thoughts? Share some of the ways you feel Rochester could become a more livable city in the comments section below.

Making Rochester a more livable city

August 15, 2013General

“Livable City” is one of the 7 areas of focus for the Destination Medical Center initiative, but what does it mean? In a nutshell, livable cities are vibrant, welcoming and diverse, and offer places, services and amenities that appeal to a wide range of audiences.

In this week’s installment of “Gabe on the Street,” Gabriel talks with area residents and visitors about their vision for a more livable city. You can read more from our blog authors by searching “livable city” through the search box. And be sure to join the discussion by adding to the comments below.

Creativity and collaboration will help transform Rochester

August 15, 2013General

Ever since I moved to Rochester three years ago, I have thought that this city is a livable city with great potential to evolve. Rochester has so much to offer in terms of outdoor recreational activities along our bike trails and at our parks, shopping, dining, and a wide array of arts and cultural programs. I especially enjoy the downtown atmosphere – a hub of creativity where enthusiastic minds come together every day to innovate and infuse positive energy into our city. The downtown has become a community gathering place through events and festivals, work places, the care-giving of Mayo Clinic and a bustling economy that defines the vibrant personality of our livable city.

I spend a lot of time watching people interact in Rochester and tend to notice a genuine openness and generous spirit, which in my opinion are two characteristics a city must portray in order to be an inviting livable city. As we continue to build our city, embracing our core characteristics of creativity, collaboration, openness and generosity, we will transform Rochester into a more radiant gem for its residents to proudly call “home.”

Melissa Schmid is the events director for the Rochester Downtown Alliance.

What additions to Rochester do you feel would make it a more vibrant, livable city? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The dirty words of urban design

June 20, 2013General

Previously in this blog I described the inherent qualities of urbanity. So if you are trying to reinforce or perhaps create from scratch that essence of being urban–what typifies the essence of a livable city–where should you begin?

I believe that to truly begin to embrace urban is to accept two rudimentary principles. Two vilified, egregious, “dirty” words of urban design. The first, simply stated, is that to achieve a rich urban fabric requires density. Now before you close this webpage or tear up this paper in disgust because I mentioned that dastardly “d” word, stop and think for a second about how population density leads to many other attributes of urban life that are desired. Why do you think a farmer’s market works? Furthermore, density can apply to much more than population (e.g. street widths, tree spacing, etc.) and I would argue that embracing the concept of density can help design the majority of component parts of the city system and produce results that far surpass expectations.

The second principle, and one that may be more difficult to explain, is diversity. A vague and catchall term, diversity ensures that everyone is represented, that one demographic is neither isolated nor compartmentalized, and that everyone has choice. Diversification and integration in all forms serve to achieve the larger goals of urban vitality. What I am not intending is to simply address ethnic diversity, which often is the first thing to come to mind. While that is a part of population diversity, it is far too specific. Rather it means having a Rochester Symphony Orchestra & Chorale concert on the same night as the Americana Showcase. Different strokes, for different folks.

Ultimately, our pursuit of the great city experience that exists in the pages of the Rochester Downtown Master Plan as well as the illustrations found on countless webpages and blogs is not difficult to achieve. What it takes is a fierce determination; a vigilant battle against the outdated planning doctrine of the latter 20^th Century and promotion of the settlement style growth patterns that are inherent in cultures all across the globe. It is about making a public place out of empty space. It is about overcoming fear of the word density because it evokes images of slums and high-rises and understanding the word diversity without picturing scary people lurking in the shadows.

We all can do a better job of embracing urban, and if DMC desires to increase the vitality and livability of downtown Rochester, then get ready to drop a whole lot more “d” words in public.

What is it about density that is so scary? Why does diversity connote societal ills? Join the conversation by commenting below.

Adam Ferrari is an architect and the Director of the non-profit Design Rochester. Podcasts of the radio show “Design with a Capital D” can be found on www.thecobbradio.com

What it means to be urban

June 5, 2013General

“Cities resemble lovers, offering allure, annoyance, and late-night availability.” -Emilie Buchwald

I am a self-described urbanist.

I grew up in a city, I have lived near city centers, and I have relished in the urban renaissance being experienced across the United States. Here in Rochester I have been a passionate advocate for grassroots long-range planning in its urban neighborhoods surrounding downtown. And I see latent potential for an extremely livable city actualized by Destination Medical Center.

But before the pendulum swings back in the opposite direction, one must remember that other urban byproducts accompany the positive attributes. Increased noise, increased hardscapes, decreased efficiency, decreased personal space are to be expected. You must not expect to enjoy the good parts of urban life without these other realities. The fact is urban life is not for everyone.

That being said, higher percentages of people are seeking out urban living. The globalization of information, business, and economies has put intense pressure on cities to attract people to live in them. Density is not a given, and lack of diversity acts as a deterrent to attracting the creative class. It is precisely because you can choose to live anywhere that now cities are in fierce competition to attract the new workforce and tax base of the next generation.

Therefore it is not just the ability to build a custom house in a convenient subdivision near a P.F. Chang’s, but a unique sense of place along with the amenities and enrichments of the urban environment that is required. And each of the communities that I visit and the neighborhoods that I work with has the same desires to enhance and preserve; to increase vibrancy and ensure sustainability. If that means learning to wait an extra 10 minutes to catch a bus to work as opposed to driving door to door, then we should be patient. If it means welcoming people of all ages and income levels into our neighborhoods, then we should introduce ourselves. If it means advocating for a mix of land uses over segregation of residential and commercial, then we can start writing letters to City Council.

And quite frankly Rochester has both. It has sleepy bedroom suburbs (55th Street NW) and a vibrant city center (1st Avenue SW). So if urban living is not something you crave, take a pass, and allow those who desire a dose of urbanity to situate themselves proximate to our downtown.