PROJECT ARCHIVE
Highland Avenue TOD / Union Square Waterfront Integration
Chester, Delaware County, PA | 2023
UC Studios developed a transit-oriented planning and urban-design framework centered on Highland Avenue as a strategic connection between Union Square, surrounding neighborhoods, the waterfront Sportsplex, and Chester’s recreation and employment destinations. Through a community-charrette process, residents, public officials, community organizations, property owners, and planning professionals identified opportunities to improve transit access, pedestrian and bicycle connections, neighborhood gateways, streetscape conditions, housing, commercial activity, and the reuse of vacant and underutilized properties.
The framework established a feasible, phased TOD strategy around Highland Avenue Station that balanced higher-density development with the scale and character of the surrounding neighborhood. It identified opportunities for high-efficiency micro-units to increase attainable housing supply within appropriate urban-density thresholds, while preserving and reinvesting in the historic row houses located directly adjacent to key transit linkages. Appropriately scaled housing, neighborhood-serving retail, public space, safer crossings, and dedicated pedestrian and bicycle routes strengthened first- and last-mile access. Together, these strategies positioned Union Square residents for stronger connections to jobs, education, services, and cultural destinations throughout the greater Philadelphia region, while creating a practical basis for coordinated public improvements, private investment, and long-term waterfront and neighborhood revitalization.