The trees are bigger. The landscape matured and native plants grow vigorously in the parks, planters, and yards of the historic residential neighborhoods. Once-new buildings now have a soft patina and have aged into a comfortable friendship with their historic neighbors. Multi-use, newer buildings, many with garden roofs and vine-covered trellises for walls, startle long-absent children returning to their roots.

All of downtown has blossomed into a cultural district with large performing arts venues, intimate theaters, galleries, a modern art museum, an inspiring cultural and science museum providing engaging experiences for all ages, the Beet Street amphitheater, a state-of-the art music hall on the Oxbow, and churches and spiritual centers representing beliefs from around the world. Marquees and billboards tell an astonishing tale of the variety and diversity of performances and events on any given day. Local and CSU productions frequently top the bill but there also are productions and speakers from New York, San Francisco, London, and Tokyo and hundreds of other far away places. And where once there was not a movie house to be found, there are several film festivals along with the 24 themed programs produced by Beet Street.

But there is more than art and entertainment now. The naturally reclaimed Poudre River is clean, fresh, safe. A few narrow pedestrian trails wander down the banks of the river and back up through thriving native vegetation. Bike trails are set further away. Where these trails lead beneath a bridge, soft solar lamps light the way for nighttime joggers or nature lovers or just plain lovers. Occasional interpretative signage tells the story of the river, how it got its name, what grows naturally, what lives naturally in the water and on its banks. On the south bank a award-winning green residential complexes, a few small commercial enterprises, and a boutique hotel/loft complex serve as a transition zone between the serene river corridor and the urban richness of the downtown neighborhood. The drop in point for the paddle park nestles unobtrusively below what was once CSU's Engine Lab (but what has become the National Renewable Energy Center and the University's Technology Transfer Center) and the single take out point leaves the river beneath the railroad trestle which serves commuter trains running along the entire Front Range and to Denver International Airport.

The cultural transformation and the Renewable Energy and Technology Transfer Centers are the sources of yet another revolution launched by UniverCity Connections a quarter century ago. They spun off local start-up businesses, some small, some growing into international corporations, in renewable energy, bioscience, nanotechnology and agriscience and these attract gifted students, innovators, professionals, and entrepreneurs from around the world. Their intellectual production is reflected locally in energy-efficient historic buildings, a solar powered transit system connecting the campus to downtown and the Poudre River, a consolidated trash collection and recycling system that has turned Fort Collins into zero-waste city, a public utility that relies almost exclusively on wind, solar, and other non-polluting, sustainable energy systems. The University and the City have built life-long learning and community cycling center downtown that serves CSU athletic programs, downtown employees and residents from throughout Fort Collins. Five other specialty education institutions offer art, cultural, science, and technology classes to all ages. A year-round community market and CSU-affiliated culinary school gives locally-owned restaurants access to the best produce and the best cooking minds in the country. Most importantly, because of the expanded employment opportunities generated by the projects and programs borne out of UniverCity Connections, the local housing market has actively responded to the needs of people in the form of unique mixed-income residential developments.

The intellectual bent of the cultural and technological worlds are balanced by a variety of recreational uses. In addition to the paddle park, locals and visitors alike can play golf, tennis, basketball in state-of-the art facilities. The University cycling team has expanded its program to include track racing in a velodrome that also serves as the home of the United States Cycling team. Joggers clip along the cool River paths breathing some of the cleanest air in any urban environment in the world. Sustained stream flows have allowed for the successful re-introduction of naturally spawned wild trout and other native fish species. Beet Street offers recreational programming to compliment its cultural programming in the form of field trips to Soapstone and other natural areas, and with package deals with regional skiing, rafting, hiking, opportunities.

Because of the compactness of this development between the University and the River, pedestrians, bicyclists and public transportation systems dominate the streets. Downtown hotels, short-stay residential complexes, the City, County, many local businesses, and the University pooled resources to buy 1500 bicycles that are used by locals, students and visitors alike to meander along the river, to shop, and to attend classes. Their use is so ubiquitous that the rest of the City is considering buying into the program. Remington Street, with its collection of grand homes has been dedicated to bikes and pedestrians while Mason Street is now a fully functional multi-modal corridor connecting Colorado State to the downtown and the River. An alley network converted to pedestrian walkways almost doubles the available storefronts without any new construction. Secluded nightclubs, restaurants, cafes, and boutique shops hidden away in these pedestrian alleyways await discovery by locals (over and over again) and visitors alike. In the central business district and on campus automobiles move very slowly and because most are now parked in high-density garages, the old surface parking lots have morphed into an eclectic mixture of student, family, and senior housing of all income levels. It is common to find work-live space and many of the businesses in the clusters started in these places.

The revolution begun by UniverCity Connections is still alive in Fort Collins. The ribbon of the Poudre River weaves together the natural world, the cultural world, and the world of learning into a rich, rewarding home without boundaries.