Green Campus

I recently saw a tweet saying that the reason a lot of Americans love college so much is because it’s the only time period where all of their friends are within walking distance of them and it made me notice some other patterns with my thought process when thinking of what I want out of a city or neighbourhood. Whenever I try to envision my perfect town or a perfect urban environment built for efficiency, I almost always end up with something very similar to a residential university/college campus. After thinking about it, I realized that there are a ton of things about these campuses that make them extremely ideal places from an urbanism perspective.

My experience primarily comes from the school I went to, where the majority (80%+) of students lived on campus and most of those who didn’t lived close enough that driving wasn’t a necessity…or even the easiest option. I’ll also draw a few things from my brother’s school, which was a nearby school a lot of my friends went to as well.

Housing

University dorm housing is one of the most dense and efficient per capital due to the fact that so many resources are shared between people. HVAC is shared between rooms, bathrooms are often common (I wouldn’t necessarily call that a positive), common rooms allow for a more efficient use of resources, and a lot is provided for you that reduces overall waste almost unknowingly. Dorms often have the added benefit of feeling a lot like a community since you will naturally meet and befriend the people in your general area. American universities are somewhat unique in that students very commonly share a physical space together. I do not advocate for this in the slightest and I view it as probably the biggest cause of issues and something that should be changed. At least for me, I would have preferred a smaller room to myself than sharing a single room…especially when you have wildly different sleep schedules and habits.

Improvements

As previously mentioned, the dorm’s biggest issue to me is the shared space. If I could work on a national Dorm Improvemenmt Plan (DIP), I would suggest switching to a single room only type system. It could either be hall style with single rooms or mostly suite style with smaller suite-common areas.

Modifications for Non-University Life

I think that a lot of the benefits of dorm-style living can be seen in studio only apartment complexes. For younger people fresh out of undergrad, an arrangement that’s dorm-esque could be beneficial for recent grads looking to meet new people in an area, but I would remove the shared bathrooms and kitchens part and have a small kitchenette and small bathroom in each unit but with a large focus on shared common areas for hanging out and meeting people.

I often find myself disliking the focus placed exclusively on young 20-somethings and think a focus should also be placed on families…for this purpose, I don’t really think dorm like living is really suitable at all but I do think that the density-level and amenities that universities have such as large fields and easy access to everything needed are amazing for families. In the U.S., there’s often a mentality of needing a yard and two cars in a larger than necessary house, but a large common quad like area would likely be a much better use of space than the monstrosity that is North American suburban lawns. The negative aspects of living in apartments for a family are often that it’s noisy and I wish apartments in most parts of the US would start placing more emphasis on sound insulation. Pre-war apartments are notorious for their thick walls that prevent do a good job of blocking sound from neighbouring units…this can definitely be replicated in modern times if more emphasis was placed on it or building requirements were made to ensure it. The first apartment complex I lived in post-graduation was built in the early 2000s and my roommates and I never heard a noise from our neighbours upstairs even when I knew my direct upstairs neighbour (a friend of mine) was throwing a party. I believe it was a combination of a smart layout (things such as placing closets between units) and good insulation techniques. Bringing this back would go a long way in improving the desirability of urban areas for families and allowing for more efficient futures and fewer wasteful cars and electricity usage brought about by suburban living.

Recreation

Because most of the housing is concentrated to a specific area, universities have tons of room for recreation. One of the best parts of my campus was the gym. One big gym with all the amenities you could ask for: weight room, racquetball, basketball courts, track, cardio, Olympic swimming pool, rock climbing wall just to name a few. A few urban gyms would be wonderful. There are many now, but they don’t often have the large all-in one of a university gym unless you’re going to Equinox. The outdoors aren’t lacking in options either with trails and trees all over.

Walkability

One of my favourite parts about my university’s campus was the fact that just about everything was within walking distance. I could go back-to-back months never walking more than 20 minutes away from my room.

Food? Five minutes north. Gym? Five minutes west. Class? Five minutes north or east. Other dorms? Every direction. Fields for sports? Ten minute walk. Gardens? Two minute walk. Doctor? There. Groceries? (Kinda) there. “Third place” hangout? 1-10 minutes depending on which one. Library? Five minutes….I think you get the point. Just about everything I needed was in such close range with walking and I think this is the ideal type of residential neighbourhood where most of what you do is within quick access and there is the option for biking or transit for more distant options. The few times I went off campus for activities had more to do with the fact that the university was on the lower end of medium sized. I get a very similar feeling whenever I am somewhere like West Village in New York City or Dupont Circle in Washington, DC or just about all of Amsterdam’s Red Light District. If you live in these places, just about everything you need will be within a ten minute walk and the things that aren’t will likely be within transit or biking distance.

According to AAA, the average American drives 29.2 miles per day. Assuming that the average fuel efficiency is 25mpg and a gallon of gasoline contains about 36kwh of energy, that’s 40kwh of energy used just moving around. Switch that to a more walking and biking oriented lifestyle and that number quickly drops below 1kwh on transportation. I think switching to this far more scalable solution is one of the best ways to avoid a climate catastrophe.

Summary

WIth the current pandemic, a lot of people have looked back at a ton of videos from years and even decades ago and have seen scientists talk about the possibilities of a pandemic. I think in the future it’ll be the exact same thing for an energy or water crisis…and the end results of those two would likely be far more devastating. Taking just a few steps to promote policies which promote a far less wasteful life in the developed world would go a very long way towards ensuring that there is as minimal damage as possible. The world would not be able to sustain every person living like a common American does with a large SUV, giant house, eating meat in every meal, and constantly heating and cooling these large cars and homes even with no one present.