Riverside Plaza is a modernist and brutalist apartment complex designed by Ralph Rapson that opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1973.

Rapson was inspired by the time he spent in European cities, where people of different ages and levels of wealth coexisted in close quarters.

The area was developed with support from the U.S. federal government's New Town-In Town program, and was originally planned to be part of a utopian design that would have seen 12,500 units spread across four neighborhoods housing a total of 30,000 people.

Cedar Square West was the first project in the country to receive Title VIII funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and it is the larger of only two New Towns-In Town that ultimately qualified for that program.

[3] The imposing concrete structures use multi-colored panels (attempting to emulate Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation design), which strongly dates the period of construction.

[4] Rapson's initial design featured large, blank panels on the building, meant to be painted by residents according to their own preferences.

Charles Whiting, February 10, 1070.Interstate 94 and I-35W both pass nearby, giving good highway transportation options for occupants, but the corridors also act as barriers to pedestrians.

[7][3] Gloria Segal recalled the sequence of events that led to Cedar-Riverside being the nation's first New Town-In Town: “In February of 1970 we proposed a first stage project to the Minneapolis Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

Federal housing regulations initially placed all the semi-luxury units in a single building with additional amenities, creating a divide between residents and fostering an "us versus them" mentality.

Another building was primarily home to residents of color, many of whom requested to live near others of their race, despite the developers' goal of promoting racial integration.

With 40% of the complex's residents being students, turnover was expected, but a survey of first-year tenants revealed that 80% intended to stay for no more than two years, which hindered the development of a strong community.

[9] New residents of Cedar-Riverside, including students and counter-culture activists, organized a number of protests that ultimately slowed down large-scale development plans.

[12] The average duration of occupancy is three to four years, a relatively quick turnover owing to the upward mobility of the newly arrived tenants, who are using the apartments as a temporary housing solution while they get on their feet.