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Academic Centers for Athletes Draw Donors
More than a dozen university athletics programs have added lavish new facilities in recent years, and academic-services budgets are soaring, a Chronicle survey finds. (Photograph courtesy of Texas A&M U.)
College Employees Value Campus Environment, Survey Finds
When a Chronicle survey asked college employees what they value about their jobs, they put the physical environment in which they work at the top of the list.
Rise in Tornadoes, Floods Poses Risk to Colleges
What if the sort of extreme weather that has left the University of Iowa inundated in floodwaters is not a freak event? What if it is a sign of things to come? (Photograph by AP Images)
Other News
New campus buildings
Multimedia
A Green Building as a Billboard for Science
(A 2006 Chronicle video)
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About Buildings & Grounds
Buildings & Grounds is written by Scott Carlson (left) and Lawrence Biemiller (right). Scott Carlson writes about architecture, facilties, energy, and sustainability, among other topics. Lawrence Biemiller writes about architecture and facilities and contributes to Notes from Academe. What's happening on your campus? Let us know.
Smart, and Dumb, Growth on Campuses
There has been a whole lot of building on campuses in recent years: more than $14-billion in construction last year, according to the magazine College Planning and Management. It’s unclear whether that growth, on the whole, has been smart or dumb.
The National Association of College and University Business Officers and the architecture and planning firm Ayers Saint Gross recently released a report, “Communities of Opportunity: Smart Growth Strategies for Colleges and Universities.” The report lays out some of the basic principles of smart growth and their benefits to institutions that stick to those principles: Colleges and universities can build more sustainably and can foster better relationships with surrounding communities.
The report says that such vibrant, efficient communities will lead to real payback for colleges and universities through higher property values and communities that are more attractive to prospective students. Recent studies have shown that people who live in walkable communities tend to be healthier.
Smart growth, in short, means building facilities and communities that are energy-efficient and walkable, featuring a range of commercial, residential, and institutional structures. Developed areas should support transportation modes other than cars — including biking, mass transit, and walking. Open space, including farmland, parks, and wild areas, should be preserved.
Smart growth takes many different forms, and the report, which is available online, profiles eight institutions that have grown smart or have tried to undo years of growing dumb.
When the University of Maryland system planned to open a regional education center in Hagerstown, in Western Maryland, it first considered building on property near the freeway, outside of town. In Hagerstown, an abandoned hotel and department store were offered as alternative sites; rehabilitating those buildings would cost slightly more than building near the freeway. Parris Glendening, who was then governor of Maryland and a smart-growth proponent, stepped in and decided that the university would renovate the Hagerstown buildings.
Since then, Hagerstown’s downtown has seen more foot traffic and the area has become a “destination.” The university has been teaching classes on smart growth for years. “The Hagerstown project was an opportunity for the university system to “walk the talk,’” the report says.
Scott Carlson | Wednesday October 17, 2007 | Permalink | Contact us
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