Riverside, a City Combining the Metropolis and Nature

Riverside is a small city in the Southern California, only a one-hour ride to Loa Angeles and a two-hour ride to San Diego. It is one of nine cities of American native characteristics. It is a cultural and entertainment center in Southern California. It is very close to the beach, the skiing resort, the Disneyland, and the Hollywood. With so many economic and cultural advantages, this city is supposed to be a fashionable metropolis, similar to the New York style. However, observations of this city draw a completely different conclusion. This city is more like a small village than a big metropolis. There is no denying of the economic development of this city, but it is in a rather low profile. The whole city is planned based on the native natural environment. In some degree, Riverside is a city combining the convenience of a metropolis and the peace of a small town, with the native natural environment.

Riverside pays attention to the sustainable development and tries to maintain the natural environment. Walking in streets of Riverside, people could always see green plants everywhere, smell the flavor of flowers, and hear the singing from birds. The city is like located in a garden. It is very quiet so that people could easily find their inner peace. Unlike the noisy metropolis, this city is in a natural and country style. There is no skyscraper or magnificent buildings. The trees stand alongside the road and houses are organized orderly not far away. In the distance, there are small mountains under the blue sky. The city is well organized and close to nature. Trees in the roadside are strong and flourished, with the age for several decades. This shows that the city is planned for the long-term development according to the local natural environment. There is no serious pollution in the city, and the air smells clean and fresh. This city is the combination of the metropolis and the country village. People could breathe the fresh air and see green plants as if they are in a distant country village. However, they could also find a fashionable building or luxury cars several blocks away. The city is not crowded at all. Everything seems peaceful and organized. The city is safe and people here are friendly. The peaceful environment makes people forget about arguments and quarrels. There are both small old shops and high-fashion boutiques in the street. There will be a strong conflict in other cities, but not in Riverside. This city combines these two styles harmoniously, which enables people to sense the historic feeling of this city and also the fast modern development.

Riverside also concentrates on the construction of public facilities for the convenience for its citizens. Though Riverside gives people the feeling of a peaceful small country village, it doesn’t mean it is a backward city. On the contrary, due to its special geographic advantages, it becomes the cultural and entertainment center of the Southern California. Thus, its public construction, especially the public transportation, is well developed. The public transportation here is very convenient for tourists and visitors to the Riverside Branch of the University of California. This city is like a civilized and knowledgeable person, insisting on being himself/herself in a low profile. One of the typical examples of its convenient public transportations is its sidewalks. As observed before, sidewalks in Riverside are well planned and organized. In the commercial district, sidewalks are closely distributed along the road, around public buildings like malls, bus stations, and parking lots. These areas are always crowded with people and vehicles, especially the rush hour. Thus, sidewalks in these areas not only provide paths for pedestrians but also help reduce the danger from vehicles. Also, in public buildings like malls, there are also sidewalks with specific functions, especially those for the disabled. Besides, sidewalks around schools are arranged for the safety of students. These sidewalks are also used to clarify the direction along with signs and guideposts because road distributions in these areas are complex. On the other hand, sidewalks in the residential district are separately distributed. The main function of sidewalks in this district is to separate the private property of each family and protect their property from vehicles on the road. The well-organized sidewalks reflect the smart planning of public constructions for the convenience of citizens and the long-term development need of the city.

Riverside never pursues the “formal” city look to match with its economic and cultural status. Instead, its city planning tries to maintain the anthropological environment and special native characteristics. The government pays attention to the original architectures and the social environment. Unlike the government of Kinshasa that “cleans up” the city for the “formal” and “organized” city-planning, Riverside tries to keep the historic architectures and make them harmonize with the changing city appearance. The government of Kinshasa destroys “irregular,” “anarchic” and unruly housing constructions and terraces to rebuild the appearance of the street in accordance with the economic standard. However, this brutal and colonized way neglects the relationship between people and the environment (Boeck 273). One example of this harmony is the Mission Inn Hotel. My personal visit to this hotel makes me realize the harmony of combining the native culture and the natural environment in the city planning. This hotel is the largest Mission Revival Style building in the US, a building style very similar to the medieval European style. There are plenty of flowers and greens around the building like a garden. The hotel pays much attention to the natural setting and its original characteristics. At the same time, it also combines the luxury equipment and high-quality service on the inside. This is the characteristics of Riverside’s city planning. It maintains the original flavor of this city and combines it with the environment and the social development. From my photograph in and of the city, there is clear evidence of green trees embracing old shops with strong local characteristics, high-fashion cars running on the clean and organized roads, and buildings with different styles standing together. This city has the fashion of metropolis. It has the flavor of a quiet country town. It also has a strong concept of the green city. Nevertheless, Riverside combines all these characteristics together in a harmonious way to establish its own city characteristics. The Lagos master plan shows that when a city fails to conceptualize the city’s problems in any integrated or strategic way and neglects the rapid urban decline, there will be a failure in the city planning. According to Matthew Gandy, “government will need to fully marshall its resources to attain maximum efficiency in addressing the multitude of physical, social and environmental needs of an area of this size” (Gandy 382). Riverside uses all its resources at the maximum level and focuses on the long-term sustainable development.

In sum, Riverside carries out its city planning based on the local characteristics. This city is neither a metropolis nor a small country town. It combines both these two characteristics with its natural beauty. This peaceful city could calm people’s minds and shows its fashion in a low profile.