What makes an ideal downtown? Downtown Rising, a business-led effort intended to map out the future of downtown Salt Lake City, wants to know.

To better frame the discussion, the Salt Lake Chamber has convened a cross-section of business and regional interests to guide the visioning process. According to the collective vision of Downtown Rising steering committees, the future downtown Salt Lake City will be beautiful, prosperous, green and community-focused. The goal is to establish a blueprint of the city's future, which will include specific public and private projects intended to revitalize downtown and leave a lasting legacy.

Downtown Rising was inspired by the Second Century Plan, which was drafted by Salt Lake business and civic leaders in the 1960s. That visioning work inspired the development of the Salt Palace Convention Center, Abravanel Hall, City Creek Park, the Main Street Plaza and the Farmers Market.

Next came the Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team, or R/UDAT, for short. In the late 1980s, a team of nationally recognized architects came to town to take a fresh look at Salt Lake City. After studying Utah's capital city and holding a public hearing, the team authored a 66-page book called "Our Future By Design." Some of its recommendations included construction of a 20,000-seat sports and entertainment arena (the Delta Center), a judicial/government center (the Scott M. Matheson Courthouse) and a light-rail system (TRAX).

That was followed by a study by Vancouver-based Thomas Consultants, which concluded in 2000 that downtown Salt Lake City needs a critical mass of restaurants, retail and residential space to stimulate economic activity in the city's core. The Gateway development includes many of those recommendations. Announced details of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' planned $1 billion-plus downtown redevelopment project include many of the same principles. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is owner of this newspaper.)

It is remarkable how many public and private projects have resulted from past visioning processes. Downtown Rising is the latest effort to build upon the successes of the past and to establish a clear vision of the future.

This effort is being conducted as the city updates its master plan, and a record $1.5 billion in public and private investment is planned for the central business district over the next five years.

Downtown Visioning differs from previous visioning processes in that it encourages vast public input. To learn more about the process, go to www.downtownrising.com For a questionnaire, call the Salt Lake Chamber at 801-328-5073, or send an e-mail to downtownrising@saltlakechamber.org. Otherwise, plan to attend a number of visioning meetings and events from Sept. 21 through Oct. 5. A complete schedule of public workshops and events will soon be available on the Downtown Rising Web site.