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Smart Growth and Colleges and Universities
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Background
Colleges and universities influence the built environment in many ways:
- As developers, institutions affect land use both on and off campus.
- As teachers and researchers, colleges and universities are educating citizens who will be involved in determining development patterns, professionally or as community members, and are producing pure and applied research on the built environment.
- As part of the community, most institutions provide technical assistance to communities, community groups, and decision-makers.
EPA works with institutions of higher learning on smart growth development approaches and sees these institutions as resources on the built environment.
The Institution as Developer
Colleges and universities are economic engines, and their impact extends beyond traditional campus boundaries. As institutions serving students, faculty, and staff, they need to maintain and expand their facilities. They are typically responsible for providing classrooms, offices, research space, laboratories, administrative offices, and housing, as well as transportation facilities that include parking lots, buses, bike racks, and bikes. Their expansion affects surrounding neighborhoods and often the larger region.
This section lists some resources about the university as developer and its influence on local economies.
Resources
Collaborating on Greensboro's Future: The University Roundtable and Next Steps: This report, produced through EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program, discusses the development challenges currently facing Greensboro, North Carolina, and its vision for future growth. The report outlines strategic directions the city and its colleges and universities could pursue by working collaboratively. The community found consensus around five strategic approaches for Greensboro to better leverage its colleges and universities:
- Re-envision Greensboro as a "college town."
- Collaborate on physical development projects.
- Create economic development partnerships.
- Enhance the role of the colleges and universities in promoting neighborhood stability.
- Address sustainability and respond to climate change.
Spokane's University District: Policy Options for a New Urban Center: Spokane, Washington, used EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program to address growth and development-related challenges on and near university campuses.
Communities of Opportunity: Smart Growth Strategies for Colleges and Universities Exit(48 pp, 39 M, About PDF): Colleges and universities are always growing. How and where they invest in new facilities, and interaction between the campus and adjacent communities, are important to students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community members. Industry analysis indicates that construction and renovations on college and university campuses totals more than $14 billion per year.
The need for new and expanded facilities is driven by projected enrollment increases, expanded research agendas, possible partnerships with industry on research, and the desire of many institutions and surrounding communities to partner on development projects.
This 2007 report from the National Association of College and University Business Officers and Ayers Saint Gross Architects, with EPA staff contributions, discusses using limited resources more effectively, getting the most out of investments, improving relations between the campus and the community, and demonstrating that institutions are and can be good environmental stewards.
Teaming Up for Smart Growth: Exit This May 2008 article from Business Officer illustrates the value of including neighboring communities in multipurpose capital projects and strengthening town-gown bonds.
The City, Land and the University: Exit This Lincoln Institute of Land Policy program focuses on the efforts of colleges and universities to develop both on and off campus.
Leveraging Colleges and Universities for Urban Economic Revitalization: An Action Agenda: ExitThis 2002 report from CEOs for Cities Conversations and the Institute for a Competitive Inner City discusses the importance of colleges and universities in urban redevelopment and revitalization. It describes how community leaders, elected officials, and college and university administrators have worked together to achieve common goals.
Teaching and Research
Through their teaching, research, and service missions, colleges and universities teach best practices, provide professional training, and analyze land use policies and practice. Much of this educational effort comes from traditional courses in programs dealing with the built environment, including planning, architecture, policy, law, engineering, and public health. However, colleges and universities also host and provide land use practice training to local officials such as municipal legislators, planning commissioners, and staff.
Resources
Partnerships for Smart Growth: University-Community Collaboration for Better Public Spaces: Written under a cooperative agreement between EPA and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, this report profiles 13 university-led collaborations on smart growth initiatives.
Teaching smart growth at colleges and universities: A set of model course prospectuses: This page contains course descriptions and syllabi from faculty members from several universities describing the integration of smart growth approaches to development into courses.
Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference: Exit This conference focuses on strategies and tools for colleges and universities to implement policies that produce smart growth and sustainable results. Attendees include students, faculty, staff, and administrators including facility managers, business officers, and sustainability coordinators.
Federal Highway Administration Course on Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation: This Federal Highway Administration course on pedestrian and bicycle transportation covers planning and engineering issues, design and engineering techniques, and implementation.
University Real Estate Development: Campus Expansion in Urban Settings: Exit The University of Baltimore created this working paper on real estate development with research assistance from the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy.
Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS): The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) created STARS, a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance.
Service and Technical Assistance
Many colleges and universities provide technical assistance and services to local governments, nonprofits, and other organizations interested in better growth and development outcomes. Some assistance involves training elected officials, staff, and community groups. Other projects include applied research and direct technical assistance through contracts or class projects or a combination of both.
Research and Service Centers
- University of Georgia
UGA Carl Vinson Institute of Government
Alliance for Quality Growth Exit
Conducts applied research and provides assistance on policy tools and best practices for better land development approaches.
- University of Maryland
National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education Exit
Works in four subject areas: land use and environmental policy, housing and community development, transportation and human health, and international urban development.
Smart Growth University Training
These courses are intended for elected officials, professional staff, developers, and citizens.
- Georgia Institute of Technology
College of Architecture
Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development Exit
- University of North Carolina
Center for Urban and Regional Studies
Smart Growth and the New Economy Program Exit
Community Partnerships: University Service and Applied Research Programs
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Cornell University
Department of Natural Resources Exit
Community and Rural Development Institute Exit
Studies land use, main street revitalization, local government, and economic development. - Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis
School of Public and Environmental Affairs
Center for Urban Policy and Environment Exit
Focuses on urban policy, intergovernmental cooperation, community and economic development, housing, environmental, and fiscal affairs research.
- Michigan State University
United Growth for Kent County Project Exit
Provides public education, capacity building, and applied community leadership with rural and urban components. Engages directly with neighborhoods to provide resources and technical assistance.
- Ohio State University
Campus Partners for Urban Redevelopment Exit
Promotes improvement to the neighborhoods around Ohio State, including creating revitalization plans for these neighborhoods.
- Rutgers University
National Center for Neighborhood and Brownfields Redevelopment Exit
Focuses on service, education, and research to promote neighborhood and brownfields redevelopment.
- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Institute for Urban Research
East St. Louis Action Research Project Exit
Works with a community assistance and development project that addresses the immediate and long-term needs of some of the city's most distressed communities.
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University of Cincinnati
UC/Community Interactions and Collaborations: A Study of Peer Institutions Exit(235 pp, 6.5 M, About PDF)
Assesses the state of university-community partnerships across North America and includes case studies. - University of Florida
Conservation Clinic Exit
Hosts an interdisciplinary effort in the law school focusing on applied education and addressing needs for conservation.
- University of Hawaii
Collaborative projects between Sea Grant Program and School of Architecture Exit
Promotes sustainable development and community planning.
- University of Massachusetts at Amherst
- Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Department Exit
Hosts several initiatives, including the Citizen Planner Training Collaborative and the Community Preservation Institute.
- University of Oregon
Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management and the School of Architecture and Allied Arts
Community Planning Workshop Exit
Works with clients throughout the state to address current planning and policy topics.
- University of Wisconsin
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
The Wisconsin Idea: University of Wisconsin Extension Programs Exit
Conducts community outreach and workshops.
- University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Center for Architecture and Urban Planning Research
Metro Milwaukee Initiative Exit
Conducts research on smart growth.
- Virginia Tech
Metropolitan Institute Exit
College of Architecture and Urban Studies
Conducts research on the New Metropolis, Fair Growth, Green Regions, Smart Governance, and World Cities.
- West Virginia University
Center for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Community Development
Community Design Team Exit
Works with communities; limited smart growth application, but very applied learning, especially in rural settings.