“Sustainable Urbanism” & Rochester’s Future
Here’s a talk I wish I’d known about and seen: “Sustainable Urbanism” author Douglas Farr spoke Tuesday night downtown, invited by the Rochester Regional Community Design Center (RRCDC). His focus, per the D&C:
Farr spoke from his book, Sustainable Urban Design with Nature, a how-to-manual that deals with challenges of incorporating natural habitats and building structures.
The church where he spoke was nearly full– let’s hope that a critical mass of people heard and can raise their voice. One key player was there:
Listening to Farr talk about his book and other things he’s done around the country made John Billone Jr., president Flower City Development, wish there were more educational talks like this when his firm ventured into environmental development. Billone’s company renovated one of Rochester’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified structures, The Medical Arts Building.
“Building green sustainable projects is an area that I think will differentiate what were doing in Rochester in comparison to other areas,” said Billone.
There are only a hand full of LEED certified buildings in Rochester on that list is the City of Rochester Water Works building, Strong National Museum of Play, Frito-Lay distribution center and the HSBC Bank in Greece.
Billone believes Rochester’s next big green surge will be the development of urban areas…
Which makes me wonder– is RenSquare, in its current incarnation, going to be LEED certified?
I’ve been in the Medical Arts Building since they LEED-ed it (they dug up the parking lot to put in a geo-thermal system), and it feels like being in any other building. Of course, if I was paying the heating/cooling bills, it would probably feel different. As in, a lot cheaper.
Retrofitting Rochester’s urban buildings to make them more sustainable & walking/transit friendly? Now that’s a long-term project I’d like to sic the Building and Trades folks on.
Modern Urban Champ, whose blog is now more pertinent than ever, and should really be read by absolutely everyone, reported this:
Like the proverbial White Knight, Farr posited that sustainability, as a movement, could come to the rescue. Unfortunately, we as a culture are still completely obsessed with the minor actions, fringe details like changing one’s light bulbs and driving a hybrid gasoline/electric motor that don’t get to the root of our behavioral issues.
Farr cited the Charter of the New Urbanism as a seminal document in the mission of promoting sustainability coupled with urbanism as opposed to urbanism at the expense of environmental concerns. Based on documents like these a definition emerges for Sustainable Urbanism: Walkable, transit-served urbanism integrated with high-performance buildings and high-performance infrastructure. He went on to describe techniques for natural processing of stormwater runoff in community greens, water features, and the fashionable new name for the ‘ditch’ of yesteryear, the ‘bioswale.’
Go check out Urban Champ’s site. Verily, it rocketh the mic.
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