Coming up for the Design Center...

April and May kick-off two of our 2024 programs: Design Workshops and

Community Conversations! Both of these programs have been employed by the CDCR

for a long time, focusing on ways to engage residents and stakeholders in the process of neighborhood planning and design.

Design Workshops

Four workshops are planned for 2024: High Falls State Park Design Workshop, El Camino Revitalization Area Vision Plan Update, Lyell Avenue Corridor Design Workshop and the Dewey Avenue Design Workshop. Our first event, High Falls State Park, is scheduled for May 4^th at the MCC Downtown Campus. ALL ARE WELCOME. See more details below.

The CDCR has completed more than 50 design workshops since the late 1990s, across the City of Rochester, Monroe County and the Finger Lakes Region. With the assistance of volunteer planning and design professionals, the CDCR plans and hosts the design workshop and then prepares a report documenting the community or neighborhood's vision for their future.

The day long (9:00 am – 5:00 pm) event includes presentations on neighborhood background and local history, focus area walking tours, idea brainstorming and group discussion of opinions. A wide range of residents and stakeholders (property owners, business owners, municipal representatives and non-profit entities) are invited to share experiences and work together to identify short and long term solutions for neighborhood improvement.

Please consider joining us for one or more of these valuable and interesting workshops!

Community Conversations

The CDCR has held Community Conversations for many years. They have historically been hosted one to two weeks after a Reshaping Rochester Speaker Series event. The Reshaping Rochester Series has been held monthly from late winter through spring for 18 years, typically with 5 speakers. This year, we are focused on Design Workshops, which are seeing a resurgence post pandemic. Because of this, our Community Conversations will be held on the First Friday of each month in our Design Gallery and focus on current and relevant planning and development topics.

Our first topic will be about the Inner Loop North, and will be discussed this Friday, April 5th. This project has been in the planning stages for several years now, and is currently in the

design phase.

On March 12th, the City of Rochester and their consultant team, held the first public meeting at the School of Inquiry on Scio Street and University Avenue. The CDCR provides representation on the project's Citizens Advisory Committee, and we wish to keep this conversation going. Hence, a Community Conversation topic.

Other Community Conversation topics are tentatively planned as follows:

May – High Falls State Park

June – Academic Institution Collaboration

July – Off for 4th Celebration

August – Youth and Education

September – Housing

October – Food Accessibility

November – Maintenance of the Public Realm

December – Perceptions Created by the Media

Topics are subject to change and your input is welcome. Email to admin@rrcdc.org

You are invited to attend a design workshop!

If you live or work in the area surrounding the newly proposed High Falls State Park, we want to hear from you! All residents, business owners, institutions, property owners or anyone who is interested in preserving and enhancing the quality of life in this area are invited to participate.

Design Workshops are all about YOU and YOUR neighborhood. Join your neighbors, community leaders, city officials and design professionals to share your ideas and make a change!

Event Details

 Where: MCC Downtown Campus, High Falls Room

When: May 4, 2024 from 8:30am - 5pm

Register by­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­: April 20, 2024

Walk-ins are welcome

Children under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times to participate.

This event is presented by:

First Friday’s Community Conversations are back! 

Join us in our Design Gallery

THIS FRIDAY, April 5th from 4:30pm to 8:00pm

Hungerford Building, 1115 E Main St, Door 3B.

April Topic: The Inner Loop North

The Inner Loop North transformation project held its first design phase public meeting March 12, 2024. Let's continue that conversation...

Following the successful completion of the Inner Loop East project, the City of Rochester is now moving forward with a plan to address the remaining northern section of the Inner Loop. The transformation of the Inner Loop North will reconnect Downtown Rochester with several Rochester neighborhoods, the Public Market, and High Falls; restore a more pedestrian and bike friendly street grid; create new active and passive green spaces; and foster opportunities for equitable economic and community development. Together with Rochester’s ROC the Riverway program and Downtown Revitalization Initiative, the vision for true transformation of Rochester’s downtown and neighborhoods is coming to fruition.

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BOOK SALE

 Help us Spring Clean with our first Book Sale!

During this event, we will have great design books available with a donation in our gallery.

Stay tuned as we begin to redesign our website with RIT intern Cassidy Kress. We are excited to have her work with our design team to create a refreshed site that takes us far into the future. Utilizing GIS we can have interactive maps and tools of the 21^st century to share our community design stories.

Solar Eclipse comes to ROC!



The Rochester area will experience a full solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. The solar eclipse starts at 2:07 p.m. and ends at 4:33 p.m., with totality lasting from 3:20 p.m. to 3:23 p.m. In total, this phenomenon will last two hours and 26 minutes.

Our streets, parks and public spaces will be filled with residents and visitors to experience this event. With so many people gathering to share this historic solar event, it will be interesting to see how we all engage together.

Be sure to tag your experience with us on Facebook and Instagram!

AIA Rochester and IIDA NY Rochester City Center are proud to again present Product Runway, a night of fashion, architecture, and design in partnership with Fashion Week of Rochester for a one-of-a-kind runway show featuring original garments created by local architecture firms, design companies, students and industry partners.

The NY Statewide Preservation Conference is returning to Rochester!

Discover how climate solutions aren’t just a necessity but an opportunity to create a healthier, more equitable future for the Genesee-Finger Lakes region.

Featuring a keynote by Qiana Mickie, executive director of NYC Mayor's Office of Urban Ag, hands-on workshops, a panel discussion, and more!

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Grab your bike, your friends and family and join Reconnect Rochester for a community ride and rally on May 3 to show support for building the safe, seamless, high comfort Bike Spine Network outlined in Rochester's Active Transportation Plan. Meet up will be at Genesee Valley Park (@2pm) and ride to the steps of City Hall for a rally (@3pm) with public officials and bike community leaders.

CDCR is supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.