In 1995, then University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Provost Michael Aiken constructed a planning committee, referred to as the Campustown 2000 Task Force, in an effort to revitalize the deteriorating infrastructure in the Campustown district. As the committee's chairperson, Aiken hoped to transform the district into a safer, more inviting area for university students and visitors. The committee was composed of representatives from the cities of Champaign, its
twin city Urbana, the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce, the C-U Economic Partnership, land and business owners within Campustown and the University of Illinois. Since the creation of the district, Campustown's main thoroughfare, East Green Street, carried four lanes of vehicular traffic, despite serving a mostly pedestrian-based commercial district for the university. Campustown's deteriorating infrastructure was highlighted when a student was killed by vehicular traffic and during the
2002 NFL season when the
Chicago Bears played their home games at
Memorial Stadium during the renovation of
Soldier Field. The resulting streetscape of Campustown has been very well-received, and is so far considered a resounding success. It achieved a number of the goals set forth in the Campustown Action Plan, most notable Goal II, "Develop an Overall Look for the Campustown Area," and Goal III, "Maintain and Improve Campustown Infrastructure." In order to build on the successes of the Campustown Action Plan, and also further its goals, the City of Champaign developed the University District Streetscape Master Plan in Fall of 2003. This plan not only focuses on the Green Street area, but highlights changes to be made throughout the entire University District. The planned improvements differ by each street, and are broken down into three categories: the Commercial Area, the Transition Area, and the Neighborhood Area. The full plan discusses proposed changes to the infrastructure of each area type, and goes over estimated costs as well as projects that should be prioritized over others ==Urban core development==