The Mixed-Use Center is the hub of neighborhood activity. It is centrally located and enjoys close proximity to all major land uses and amenities, including the Transit Green, recreation fields, pedestrian and bicycle connections, transit links, and Student, Faculty and Staff Housing.

The Mixed-Use Center is comprised of a range of neighborhood-serving commercial, office, service and residential uses, as well as other community-oriented and civic uses. Ground-floor commercial shops and services include uses such as a cafe, laundromat, bike repair shop, or similar convenience retail. Residential uses include apartments on the upper floors of buildings. Community-oriented and civic uses include amenities such as a daycare center, senior center and library branch.

Central and Integrated Transit Green

The Transit Green serves as a large central open space and gathering place for the community. It provides a direct link to the Mixed-Use Center and Central Campus via pedestrian paths, a central bicycle path, and a bus line. The green may feature uses such as community gardens, tot-lots, tennis and volleyball courts, small plazas and gathering areas, or an outdoor amphitheater. All trails and paths are lighted; courts and recreation areas are intended for daytime use only. Emergency and service access are permitted along the bus corridor.

The Community Education Center (CEC) provides approximately 60,000 square feet of facilities for the Los Rios Community College District and other campusaffiliated educational programs (including high school satellite programs provided in partnership with the Davis Joint Unified School District). Food services and other CEC amenities are provided in the Mixed-Use Center area, helping to activate the pedestrian environment. In addition, people using the CEC have direct access to the open space and gathering areas in the Village Square and its surrounding buildings.

Recreation Fields are located in close proximity to the Village Square and provide sports venues for students and community residents. The sports fields are lighted for evening play for soccer, football, baseball, softball, basketball and volleyball. The fields are slightly lower in elevation than the surrounding spaces, allowing for flood drainage retention during big storms. A small recreational center, with meeting rooms, restrooms and a storage area, physically encloses the southwest corner of the Village Square.

Community Open Space includes all of the naturalized habitat areas, view corridors and green buffers within the neighborhood. Ponds on the northern edge of the site serve drainage functions and provide habitat for plants and animals. Vegetated swales, incorporated into neighborhood greenways and bicycle/pedestrian corridors, also provide habitat and drainage for the area. Corridors along Russell Boulevard west of Arlington Drive maintain views toward the Vaca Mountains. In addition, green buffers along the edges of the neighborhood provide a low-intensity transition between the neighborhood and its surrounding land uses.

Bicycle and pedestrian pathways provide an off-street travel network connecting the Mixed-Use Center area to adjacent neighborhood districts, open space amenities, and trails and facilities both on campus and in the local community. Additionally, these pathways allow direct access to the Central Campus via a bike route along Hutchison Drive and a trail leading to the existing bicycle/pedestrian bridge over State Route 113.

A public safety station is located in the southwest portion of the neighborhood. As part of the overall UC Davis public safety network, the station provides fire, police and emergency medical assistance for all neighborhood districts. It also provides service for the West Campus, including the University Airport, Primate Center, and agricultural teaching and research facilities.