City of Riverside University Avenue Specific Plan and Streetscape Plan

Riverside, California

Gruen Associates prepared the University Avenue Strategic Plan and Specific Plan, which provides land-use regulations to encourage a mix of land uses and investments on University Avenue, transforming certain objectionable uses to new uses. Development standards and guidelines were aimed at developing University Avenue as a one-of-a-kind street with an enhanced pedestrian character, extensive landscaping, a new bikeway, a shuttle system, improvements at major intersections and revitalized uses. The University Village Center, recommended in the plan, opened in 1997 and has been expanded three times. A new and extensively-landscaped streetscape, designed by Gruen Associates, was a major element for improving the visual quality of University Avenue and its pedestrian environment. The use of palms, shade and citrus trees, thin water elements, trellis elements, historic pedestrian-scaled lights, and brick-accented paving emphasizes Riverside’s heritage.