Blog Post

Serving on the SCUP Awards of Excellence jury in the summer of 2025 was an unexpectedly clarifying experience for me. It brought into focus two questions I had already been wrestling with in my own campus planning practice:

• How can campuses cultivate places that balance pedagogy, resiliency, and belonging?
• What does it mean to plan in an era defined by technological disruptions, climate change impacts, and social fragmentation?

Since that review process and thanks to the thoughtful deliberations and insights of my fellow jury members, I have repeatedly returned to those questions in my campus planning work, stakeholder consultations, and ongoing discussions with peers.

My primary takeaway from the awards submission reviews reaffirmed that the future of campus planning is not in expanding a physical footprint, but in deepening relationships—between land and learning, institutions and their communities, and data-driven insight and the lived experience of place.

In practice, I have come to see the integration of these elements as less about coordinating efforts and more about reciprocity. A campus evolves meaningfully when its physical framework, academic purpose, and community relationships actively reinforce and nurture one another.

The following seven themes emerged from my ongoing work with higher education institutions that are redefining their campus planning priorities.

1. Multiscale, Temporal, and Multidisciplinary Integration

Multiscale integration requires linking the institution’s strategic vision with the everyday experience of campus life and the students. This means planning across multiple scales simultaneously, from the city and regional networks that shape access to and mobility around campus to the individual buildings and classrooms.

For example, a campus pathway could connect seamlessly to city bike lanes and transit, encouraging sustainable modes of travel. Another intersecting pathway might lead to outdoor study spaces and terminate at a building designed for collaborative learning. Inside that building, classrooms can be flexible, supporting lectures, group work, or community events, and easily adapt as teaching needs evolve.

Temporal integration aligns short-term actions with a long-term strategic vision. Increasingly, campuses are integrating long-range investments, near-term capital projects, and day-to-day operations around shared values such as adaptability, collaboration, and partnership. Examples include:

• A phased surface parking site planned with utilities, grading, and multimodal access in place so it can seamlessly transition into student housing, academic space, or campus green space as mobility patterns evolve and parking demand declines
• A flexible building designed with generous floor-to-floor heights, robust structural systems, and adaptable service zones for power, data, and ventilation, allowing new labs, programs, or technologies to be introduced over time
• Pilot projects and interim spaces that are intentionally designed to test emerging teaching and learning models before committing to permanent investments
  Multidisciplinary integration depends on breaking down department and discipline silos.

When campus planners and designers collaborate closely with academic faculties, facilities teams, staff, leadership, and community partners, campus plans are far better positioned to support flexible, collaborative learning environments and a more efficient shared use of space.

After campus planning becomes truly interdisciplinary, indoor and outdoor spaces move beyond being static or single-purpose. Instead, they evolve into “living” places of learning and connection—adaptable environments that respond over time and can extend past campus boundaries, blending into surrounding neighbourhoods.

This cross-boundary integration lets campuses function not only as cohesive internal communities but also as laboratories where new ideas in sustainability, pedagogy, and civic engagement can be tested, observed, and refined in real time.

Take a centrally located campus commons. During the day, it supports outdoor classes, research demonstrations, and informal student study. In the evenings and on weekends, the same space can host community markets, public lectures, and cultural events.

Embedded infrastructure (such as solar canopies, stormwater features, and digital displays) serves functional and pedagogical roles, allowing students and faculty to test climate-responsive design strategies while strengthening connections between the campus and its surrounding neighbourhood.

2. Climate-Conscious Planning

Sustainability in campus planning has evolved well beyond energy efficiency to embrace comprehensive climate leadership. Institutions are embedding climate mitigation and adaptation into strategic planning and physical design. They are setting clear targets for decarbonization and resource efficiency, and recognizing that their campuses must anticipate and respond to environmental uncertainty, extreme weather, and long-term impacts of climate change.

Our campus futures are strengthened by incorporating buildings and landscape systems designed to withstand increasingly volatile conditions while remaining vibrant hubs of learning even amid environmental disruption. For example:

• A campus that manages increased precipitation through robust stormwater systems and floodable landscapes with buildings designed so lower levels are flood-tolerant and constructed with water-resistant materials to protect critical infrastructure
• Vegetation and landscaping that are strategically arranged to reduce fuel loads and limit wildfire risk to nearby buildings and communities
• Flexible building systems (including but not limited to modular mechanical and electrical systems, movable interior walls, and elevated or reinforced structural components), allowing facilities to adapt to changing academic, research, and community programs or extreme events without disrupting campus operations

3. Wellness and the Student Experience

Wellness and student success are increasingly inseparable. Many plans now treat wellness as a generative design principle rather than a standalone amenity, embedding daylight, material warmth, and sensory-rich environments into the campus fabric.

Wellness is also expressed in how spaces for contemplation, creativity, and movement are integrated with academic functions, supporting mental restoration and intellectual curiosity. The University of Virginia’s Contemplative Commons exemplifies this approach.

Its light-filled indoor spaces, interconnected outdoor areas, and art installations inspired by nature create an immersive environment for reflection, learning, and collaboration. Courtyards with walkable water features and views of natural ecosystems offer restorative spaces for students, complemented by intentional wellness programming, including contemplative mindfulness, reflection practice sessions accompanied by music, and movement activities. They foster resilience, awareness, and meaningful social connections.

. . . the future of campus planning is not in expanding a physical footprint, but in deepening relationships—between land and learning, institutions and their communities, and data-driven insight and the lived experience of place.

4. Equity, Inclusion, and Co-Creation

Co-creation has emerged as a defining practice of ethical campus planning. I highly commend projects that demonstrated inclusive processes from the outset, where equity was embedded procedurally and intentionally, not post-rationalized.

In an era marked by social fragmentation, campuses have the potential to serve as spaces for social recognition and cultural repair by foregrounding underrepresented voices, histories, and narratives.

Many institutions recognize that inclusion goes beyond representation, incorporating meaningful strategies that shape places, programs, materials, symbols, and experiences, while creating environments that convey belonging, respect, and safety across the entire campus.

Viewed through this lens, campus planning is more than a technical exercise: It is a collaborative, socially-responsible process that strengthens community cohesion and affirms diverse identities.

5. Land Relationships, Indigenous Placemaking, and Stewardship

One of the most profound shifts I have observed in campus planning is a renewed and deepened relationship with land—not only as a physical resource, but as an ecological, cultural, and historical entity.

Increasingly, planning practices emphasize the celebration of site-specific character through natural systems thinking.

In my recent work at Brook McIlroy and with our Indigenous Design Studio, I have observed the value of acknowledging Indigenous placemaking and stewardship, not merely as an ethical imperative or a box to be checked but as a vital pedagogical element.

A compelling example is unfolding within the ongoing University of Waterloo’s Campus Plan , where our team envisioned Indigenous-inspired spaces that “listen to the land”: responding to natural topography, ecological systems, and historical land narrative, creating opportunities to recognize and celebrate Indigenous presence through art, programming, and interpretive features.

Using this kind of approach, campus planning becomes a technical exercise and a collaborative practice that nurtures connection to the land, strengthens community, and affirms cultural identity.

6. Storytelling and Communication

The most effective campus plans incorporate storytelling as a core strategy, shaping how a university’s identity, values, and aspirations are projected, experienced, and evolved.

Storytelling can be integrated into three key elements:

• The The Campus Plan Document has the potential to tell a compelling story of place, process, and relationships through highly interactive visuals and supporting narratives.
• The Campus Planning Process, when forward-looking, transforms the process itself into an engaging and participatory story, capturing diverse perspectives and co-creating a shared vision for the campus’s evolving future.
• The Campus Physical Space Design can manifest storytelling through architecture, landscapes, and pedestrian-focused circulation systems, making institutional values, history, and aspirations legible to all users. Dynamic academic, cultural, and community-facing programming, interpretive features, and adaptive spaces communicate these narratives in real time, turning the campus into a living, experiential story that evolves with its society.

7. Implementation-Ready and Feasible

A rigorous approach to implementation includes clear phasing, financial analysis, and defined pathways, aligning strategic vision with operational capacity and available resources.

Phased planning allows campuses to adapt over time, balancing short-term priorities with long-term goals, and financial analysis ensures projects are feasible, cost-effective, and resilient to changing circumstances.

Implementation-focused planning also integrates monitoring and feedback mechanisms, enabling campuses to evaluate progress, recalibrate strategies, and respond to evolving academic, social, and environmental conditions.

By grounding planning in practical realities and defining clear steps for execution, campuses can transform ambitious visions into tangible outcomes that enhance operations, strengthen the student experience, and advance institutional objectives.

The Final Word

Reflecting on my experiences in campus planning throughout 2025, the discipline is evolving from a primarily technical exercise into a deeply relational practice. Campuses are emerging as models of social inclusion, climate resilience, and intellectual collaboration, where physical spaces, programmatic vision, and community engagement are intertwined.

These transformations suggest that the integrated campus of the future will not be measured by the extent of its built footprint but by its openness, adaptability, and responsiveness.

Ultimately, the success of campus planning lies in its capacity to weave together people, place, and purpose, creating environments that are vibrant, resilient, and meaningful for generations to come.

Exceptional campus plans and the institutions behind them will distinguish themselves by their ability to invite participation, evolve with changing needs, and continuously align place with purpose.

Author Biography

Khatereh Baharikhoob, BArch, MUD, RPP, MCIP, OALA, CSLA, is a principal urban designer, landscape architect, and registered professional planner at Brook McIlroy. She leads multidisciplinary urban projects, including community plans, campus master plans, visioning initiatives, and public engagement processes. As an IAP2-certified engagement specialist, Baharikhoob excels at designing and delivering inclusive community engagement strategies across all aspects of her work. She combines technical expertise with innovative leadership to help shape places and communities that foster inclusion, belonging, and well-being.

To comment on this article or share your observations, email kbaharikhoob@brookmcilroy.com.