College Campuses Are Designed at Human-Scale. Our Cities Can Be Too.
College Campuses Are Designed at Human-Scale. Our Cities Can Be Too.
January 6, 2021 By Collin Slowey Read More: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/...urban-planning Quote:
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The university I went to is feeling increasingly urban as it's growing denser. It used to have a lot of empty spaces and buildings separated from walkways by lawns, but now there's several attractive squares and walkways.
ex: https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.47143...7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.47193...7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.47252...7i13312!8i6656 Also the suburban area next to campus is redeveloping into an urban neighbourhood. It used to be mostly 1950s-1960s ranch houses and split levels rented out to students and not there's midrise apartments with ground floor retail even on the side streets (in fact, maybe even more commonly on side streets than on the arterials). https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.47581...7i16384!8i8192 |
Not every college campus is worth emulating:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4483.../data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@33.5823.../data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@37.3544.../data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@41.6281.../data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0851.../data=!3m1!1e3 |
Colleges are certainly much better at being pedestrian-friendly than typical U.S. development, but they're not entirely ideal because the idyllic "campus" built form that the U.S. loves doesn't quite work well when blown up to larger scale.
Basically the issue with campuses is that once a school gets large enough, they just are a little too expansive to be walkable. A nice central quad is a good communal amenity - I think all schools should have this. But buildings are also set back far from sidewalks with lots of landscaping basically everywhere - with most of this landscaping being passive space of about as little use as that in an office park. Lots of people hang out in it/walk through it because they have no choice. But it's ultimately designed to look pastoral and "nice" - not to be functional. Another example is the common separation of uses on a college campus, which tends to try and recreate the 1950s idea of "city rings" in miniature. Typically you will see a central ring of academic buildings, with dorms placed on the outer fringes of the campus. On a smaller campus this is fine, but on a large campus this can lead to uncomfortably long "walking commutes." When I was a student there were times when I had to walk 30+ minutes to get to a single classroom. I did it - and it was great for getting in shape. But it was a pain logistically - particularly when I had like a 90-miniute gap between classes and realized it just wasn't worthwhile to walk back to my dorm and leave again. There's no reason why we couldn't intersperse academic and residential buildings - or even have purpose-designed mixed-use buildings with lower floors for classroms and upper floors for residence. |
The Bloomsbury district in London is one of the few areas planned and with straight roads, -designed round a series of squares where the many major institutions are based, such as the University
of London and the British Museum. It could have been what most of London would have turned out like after the Great Fire, had the people not ignored the grand plan and rebuilt on their old plots. It can work (looks lovely from above), but it's also one of the quietest areas of the capital, for good or bad. Businesses such as shops and restaurants don't exactly thrive like elsewhere. https://mappinglondon.co.uk/wp-conte...tishmuseum.jpg https://mappinglondon.co.uk http://d3e1m60ptf1oym.cloudfront.net...88_xgaplus.jpg Jason Hawkes, http://d3e1m60ptf1oym.cloudfront.net...88_xgaplus.jpg http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-ge...ing-London.jpg http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-ge...ing-London.jpg http://d3e1m60ptf1oym.cloudfront.net...45339_uxga.jpg http://d3e1m60ptf1oym.cloudfront.net...45339_uxga.jpg http://medias.photodeck.com/b25e87e4...47784_uxga.jpg foreground -you'll see the formality of the plan change as it abutts the medieval winding streets of the rest of the city, much denser and busier: http://s3.amazonaws.com/medias.photo...84_xgaplus.jpg Footfall -residents like it for its quietude, but everyone else finds no real reason to visit. Despite drawing thousands of students, it has no major nightlife. I will say though the businesses are almost all independent, though what would normally be a draw for everyone jaded of the high street chains, isn't. The quality of produce isn't great, with low end restaurants and corner shops (though of course with hidden gems) that have degraded due to the low footfall. They're now universally suffering this past year and a lot have closed. https://mr2.homeflow-assets.co.uk/fi...B190336_11.jpg https://mr2.homeflow-assets.co.uk The nearest it gets to busy is the Brunswick Centre, a local modernist icon of mixed housing and classy shopping/ eating/ sipping that occupies one 'campus' square. https://i.postimg.cc/wTPfkhKn/s.png https://i.postimg.cc/DwNS0wXr/s.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/03/9e...1ad25125d7.jpg https://www.architecture.com/image-l...04723_zoom.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/QNR9jtcc/s.jpg www.architecture.com |
In short a campus format looks very nice (and walkable), but a leetle too quiet imo -it's just not as permeable. Too much orderly space, long one-sided streets and greenery misses out on the enjoyable chaos a city can offer, and makes for longer walks to access shops. -Which in turn starts a vicious circle as it means less shops, and even longer walks etc.
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https://images.adsttc.com/media/imag...jpg?1442243624 Source: https://www.archdaily.com/74188/roos...voa-associates From what I've heard and read, the expense of building this edifice has put the school in some pretty challenging financial straits. Apparently they decided to build it and then ask for donations after the fact. Looks like someone skipped the lesson on the proper ordering of horses and carts. |
Unless it's an urban campus, they tend not to be really built to human scale. There's just no cars. The buildings are far apart and it's a pretty long walk from one to the other but the squirrels LOVE them.
@ muppet. Bloomsbury is such a cool area. If I lived in London, that's where I'd live. Stayed in a hotel next door to the Brunswick Centre. First time I was there, it was rather dystopian and later, they cleaned it up and added a Sainsbury's. |
They should add people movers like the one in JAX.
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People always ignore scalability in these kinds of arguments. College campuses can be entirely pedestrian oriented because they are tiny, relatively speaking. You can't just scale it up and get a functioning modern city out of it.
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But other places which tend to exist in a campus format, like medical centers, corporate offices, and the like tend to be less human scaled. These do have much different needs of course. |
This is a nice thread.
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I think it makes sense to have the teaching facilities clustered together, so that you can walk from one class to another within 10 minutes. That's why my university has been expanding mainly by infilling those "residual green spaces" (and parking lots). In the 1960s initial development phase, the teaching facilities quickly sprawled across an area that's about a 10 min walking radius, and has been infilling ever since. |
A city like an urban campus would be like those mixed use developments were you’ve got retail and residential but it’s all one modern development. SoDo SoPa.
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College campuses are generally built at human scale because they were built before WW2, if not before the 20th century. I’m sure there are plenty of auto sprawl exurban campuses of newer, lower tier schools.
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UC San Diego isn't designed for people. One problem is that the steep hills and canyons break up any sort of cohesion on campus. Then you have the 5 freeway separating the main campus from other parts of campus and student housing. The best improvement for mobility was the fully elevated Trolley extension that connects both sides. https://goo.gl/maps/xtgSZGBifoMaVdHh8 This is a 44 minute walk to get from on campus student housing on the east side to on campus housing on the west side. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Nuev...32.8881011!3e2 Keep in mind, most students live off campus in market rate apartments in this area: https://www.google.com/maps/@32.8673.../data=!3m1!1e3 1 hour 8 minute walk from here: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/The+...32.8633428!3e2 There are Super Loop bus routes that are typically jam packed full of students to commute from market rate apartments to campus. Often the bus pulls up and it's at capacity, leaving students behind at the stop. Packed Super Loop Bus: https://goo.gl/maps/2Y42hhgjMHeUtZ6f6 |
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https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fl...!4d-80.1010633 or Florida Gulf Coast University: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fl...!4d-81.7752618 |
Outside of backwards places, a college campus will be designed for students without cars as well as those with them. This is a current ethic and typical requirement, not a historic remnant.
Those SD images are interesting. This seems like a once-small campus that got stuck as it grew. Land is used sorta efficiently but topography and protections get in the way. It would be nice to respond to that by building some much higher density closer in vs. holding tight to an outdated campus vision. |
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