Learning Resources

Abstract: Profound technological changes are occurring today, and universities need to prepare our students to work and live in this new world. Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech) is addressing the future of technology in society, academia, and the campus through our Tech Forward Strategic Plan, a bold enrollment and retention initiative, an aggressive capital campaign, and a dynamic hiring initiative. Our aspirational campus master plan, developed in partnership with SmithGroup, an integrated design firm, integrates and supports these initiatives and goals. Active stakeholder engagement, frequent reviews, and vigorous discussion allowed us to craft a campus master plan aligning strategic, physical, and capital planning that supports and drives the university’s 2035 Vision.

Abstract: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, an effort to address physical and mental well-being on campuses has become a focus. One overlooked opportunity to improve student welfare lies beneath their feet: enhancing campus walkability. Planners at the University of Georgia used “feeling maps” to help identify and create healthier connections for faculty, students, and staff traversing between campus destinations.

Abstract: When carefully considered and thoughtfully planned, physical campus space has the power to reinforce an institution’s values around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Abstract: The article explores campus design implications for socially equitable college and university environments. Two institutions that carry the value of social equity as dominant themes in their mission and strategic plans are showcased. Bellevue College’s equity plan acts as the cornerstone for social justice on campus. Oregon State University’s new Strategic Plan 4.0 includes sense of belonging and inclusion as core values. For both, the physical campus framework plans, used to guide campus development and design over time, fully integrate social equity through processes of engagement and physical solutions that improve a sense of welcome and inclusion.

Abstract: A global health crisis intersecting with a racial reckoning has led to a renewed commitment to reflect on complex histories and plan for more inclusive futures on many American campuses. Institutions, which benefitted from traditional hierarchies of power, are starting to grapple with histories of developing indigenous lands and the legacy of a western and able-bodied vernacular within campus design that continues to reinforce in-groups and out-groups. The authors are presently leading first-of-their-kind DEI planning initiatives; in this article they unpack how a public institution is meeting their past head-on to plan better futures.

Abstract: Modern design and planning are routinely confounded by endemic conditions of deep fragmentation, rampant bureaucratization, and ineffective regulation. Such barriers hamper our ability to succeed in the execution of responsive, responsible, and superb ventures. Added to the mix are cost escalation, outdated technologies, cumbersome techniques, conservative posturing, and the damages of “value” engineering. In such a milieu, it becomes extremely difficult to move from concept through construction with clarity, continuity, and even integrity. Abandoned are often the inspiring, enduring, and delightful qualities that elevate buildings to Architecture. Innovative mindsets and methods must be realized to improve the quality of our built environments, especially considering resources are limited, expectations are soaring, and the need for change is non-negotiable. The author presents a holistic integrative framework for more successful and sustainable environmental design. Included are considerations of agility, fitness, diversity, and delight—aspects that loom large in equations for ingenuity in contemporary times.