I looked at this on Google Earth and SUNY Buffalo looks like a terrible layout. The whole campus looks like a huge suburb and based on the pictures I saw it has to be one ugly school. Is there a "campustown" area with bars and shops for the students?Originally posted by Linda_D
I burned down the church to atone for my transgressions.
"Looks" are NOT deceiving in this case. In the 1970s when the campus was built, this area was swampy farmland. Now, it's swampy suburbia.
As far as I know, there isn't any kind of student-centered retail immediately off campus. Students take shuttle buses to the old campus, "South Campus", to find anything resembling an off-campus student section. From there, those who are old enough to drink take the Metro Rail downtown to Chippewa Street near downtown Buffalo. Those who have cars (or access to them), go to the Elmwood Strip for a "campustown" experience (which is, ironically, just south of Buffalo State College, SUNY/Amherst's redheaded stepsister and my alma mater.
What's worse is that they never learned from their mistakes. There's no "if we would have known then what we know now" introspect, at least for the planning of North Campus. Cite: recently built on-campus student apartments follow the 1980s suburban complex model, with two-story buildings arranged in a jumble around parking lots, with one point of access to the complex. A few of the complexes are far beyond a comfortable walk to "The Spine", the core of UB North.
Even in the glory days of South Campus, in the early- to mid-1970s, University Heights was a middling college neighborhood. Some college bars, a co-op, a music store, a lefty-leaning bookstore, all in a pedestrian-oriented business district, but otherwise most businesses catered to the needs of the area's permanent residents. Main Street through University Heights aged fairly well, considering the precipitous decline of the Kensington neighborhood starting a couple blocks to the east.
The area around Buff State is superb. at least on the Elmwood Avenue side. Grant Street caters more to the Puerto Rican/Somali/Sudanese/Burmese/Italian holdout community, and it's on the rough side.
Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey
I think that Amherst Street may be starting to become a commercial strip that might bring in some collegiate traffic. That was my "turf" when I lived in Buffalo many years ago, and when I drove through it this summer, I was pleasantly surprised. The Wegmans has really revived that area, and there are signs of some shops taking root in the long abandoned storefronts between Wegmans and Grant Street. Casey's (a bar) remains popular, and there's another popular bar right across the street from Wegmans. The neighborhood has cheaper rents than the Elmwood Strip area and is a lot safer than Grant Street. With the shuttle, it's easy to get to Buff State now.
Just came back from seeing U of Central Florida and besides a unique circular campus shape there is nowhere for the students to go except a strip mall or an Applebees. I think universities should have some planning jurisdiction outside their campuses to make sure people without cars can be serviced and have a life. If anyone went to this school please tell me if I am mistaken or I missed something.
I burned down the church to atone for my transgressions.
Actually, I think that both collegiate and local authorities prefer the campuses to be "self-contained". Traditionally, in the US, many colleges/universities were built in small towns or rural/suburban areas to keep "town and gown" separate. Most of today's "urban campuses" were at one time built on the outskirts of towns, but then the towns grew up around them. Building urban campuses that intentionally integrate with the surrounding community is probably relatively new -- maybe thirty years or less.
Another thing I noticed is that cafes and coffee lounges are becoming popular in college towns. Also, places to live in downtowns are becoming popular too. A new place opened up in downtown San Luis Obispo called Kreuzburg, CA. It's the first of it's kind coffee lounge where you can buy coffee, go on the internet, read a book, talk to friends, or study.
It's open later than the other places too.
And they are almost done with a 4 story apartment building in downtown.
Becoming popular? Do you really mean that or you just don't get out very often?
A nuisance may be merely a right thing in the wrong place — like a pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard.
Although it's unrelated to the built environment, you'll see parking lots like this.
Check out the cars on the road. In serious college towns, you'll find more Volvos, Saabs and Subarus than the norm, and they tend to be older than what you might find in an equivalent non-college town. There will probably be far more bicycle traffic than in an equivalently sized city without a college influence, with oddball bikes like recumbents being popular among a certain segment of townies.
Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey
I should have said growing in numbers. We got our first coffee lounge. we have plenty of coffee shops. and no call to be mean.
Being in a real college town, albeit for just a few days, has gotten me thinking about this a bit more. There's several overlapping experiences one will find in many college towns. They can probably be classified like this:
The Gown Town: this include the college ghetto, fraternity/sorority district, and businesses and organizations that cater mainly to college students; convenience stores, divey ethnic restaurants (Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, Thai, etc), bars, pizzerias, textbook stores, consignment stores, record stores, laundromats, American Apparel, Newman Center/Hillel/Chabad, and the like.
The Townie Town: generally the stereotypical post-collegiate population (college/university faculty and staff, professionals not related to the college/university, and a large group of folks that could be best described as "crunchy". Representative businesses include outdoors outfitters, food co-ops, yoga studios, Volvo mechanics, upscale ethnic and vegetarian/vegan restaurants, high-end bicycle shops, new age healers, brewpubs, organic baby supply stores, Ten Thousand Villages, etc. It ain't college kids that are buying Maclaren strollers, Manduka yoga mats and organic free-range locally-sourced cage-free non-GMO artisanel tomatoes, and they're not driving Volvo wagons either.
Reality*: the area outlying the core college town, where one will encounter something of a culture clash; ecovillages, organic farms, communes, and retreats, along with mechanical commercial uses, mini-storage facilities, mobile home parks, and traditional agriculture.
The Strip: where the Gown Town, Townie Town and Reality all meet. Big box retail, chain restaurants, and so on. Even Boulder, arguably the nation's most meticulously planned college town, has a strip.
* Is there a major college town that is not described as "[X] square miles surrounded by reality?"
Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey
UCF grad here...yes there are a bunch of places on campus to go. The campus, being circular, makes for ease in walking just about anywhere on campus in a reasonable amount of time. I know they have opened more since I graduated but there are several housing options on campus and right near campus. Unfortunately for UCF is was first built in the sixties and the surrounding area was planned so well by suburban Orange County. East Orlando and next door Oviedo in general has a ton of suburban housing...so lots of suburban style things neededfor the residents in addition to the college students.
"Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon." ~Peter Lynch
ZG tells me it's a commuter campus (she can add much more). Has it changed?
A nuisance may be merely a right thing in the wrong place — like a pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard.
That may have been true twenty years ago or so, but not so much anymore....about 20% of undergrads live on campus (over 10,000 units available!) UCF is the second largest public university in the US-by student population. Go Knights!
I'm sure there are plenty of commuters because of being located in Orlando, but they are more the minority than the majority these days.
"Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon." ~Peter Lynch
The University of Connecticut's main campus is a prime example of this. With more than 30,000 students and staff on campus in Storrs, and a sprawling campus with dozens of new buildings, a thriving athletic program, it literally sits in the middle of corn and cow fields. Five miles in either direction you'll find a few strip centers, but there isn't much on campus or in town. By my last recollection, within walking distance, you'd probably find one 7-11, four small locally owned bars, a few small restaurants, a Blimpie, Dunkin Donuts, and a Starbucks. Maybe a bank. Not much else. I spent three years on campus as an undergrad, two years as an employee, and two more years as a grad student and except for getting a few beers and buffalo chicken pizza from Ted's or a coffee from time to time, there were few places I went. Even then, I'd view them as service businesses and not part of any college town.
Wow, Dan. You pretty much described my central midwest state university town to a T.
"When life gives you lemons, just say 'No thanks'." - Henry Rollins
Moderator note:
mendelman - Well, then it should be in the thread you reference, therefore I have merged your thread with it and also merged your posts into one. Merging the posts aids in thread readability and merging the threads is just logical to keep such closely related ideas in one thread.
The recent thread about college towns was noticeably devoid of actual proactive planning to create a college-town atmosphere, so I thought the subject deserved its own thread. Would anyone like to share such plans?
This plan for the Univesity of California, at Riverside, includes a redevelopment of the existing University Village, which is a large horizontal mixed-use development created in part by the University, itself.
University Village includes cinemas that also serve as lecture halls in the mornings.
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/oct/12/local/me-usc12
USC Seeks Downtown Admission
For years, USC has struggled with its image as a campus in the heart of the inner city and tried to link its fortunes to downtown Los Angeles, a few miles north.
Now, a newly gentrified and hip downtown is marching south, while the university is creeping north. They haven't quite met, but both USC and downtown officials envision a day when the red-brick campus marks the southern edge of the city center.
http://www.usc.edu/about/specificplan/The University of Southern California Specific Plan
In December 2008, the Los Angeles City Council approved a motion by members Bernard C. Parks, Ed P. Reyes and Jan Perry that allows the University of Southern California to move forward with the process to gain entitlements to develop university-owned land on and close to the University Park campus. The action began the process for creating a planning area called a Specific Plan. The proposed University of Southern California University Park Specific Plan covers university-owned portions of master planning subareas one, two and three of the USC University Park Campus Master Plan – all areas on or adjacent to the University Park campus (UPC). Because USC owns the land, neither the university nor government agencies are contemplating the use of eminent domain as part of this plan.
Over the next two decades, USC estimates the need for more academic space, including more residential housing in a concentrated area adjacent to campus. As part of the university’s engagement of the community on the issue, USC has in the past two years engaged in a process of Master Planning that envisions the long-term needs of the UPC. The USC Board of Trustees approved the master plan in fall 2008 after extensive consultation with university stakeholders, community leaders, planning officials, and the public at large.
“Through the USC UPC Master Plan process, it became clear that one of the most significant concerns both the university and neighbors share is the need to build additional undergraduate and graduate student housing on university property to relieve pressure on the North University Park residential neighborhood,” said Curt Williams, USC’s vice president for campus development and facilities management. “Today, we are entering the environmental review process in the City Planning Department to begin to address these and other academic needs.”
USC will provide full cost recovery to the Los Angeles Department of City Planning for work on the Specific Plan.
University Village and Housing
Eventually the process will likely lead to the replacement of the University Village shopping complex and adjacent USC-owned housing, located at the junction of Jefferson Boulevard and McClintock Street, with a new planned development that would provide more undergraduate and graduate student housing and academic space, centrally located public open spaces, green space, pathways, and retail and other amenities accessible to the neighborhood and the university.
Beginning in 2005, the university involved the community in the planning process through a series of more than 70 meetings with University Park community groups, stakeholders and political leaders to discuss USC’s long-term growth and ways to provide enhancements to the campus and neighboring community.
A Master Plan Advisory Committee made up of representatives from various neighborhood organizations, churches, museums and other stakeholders was formed in 2006. Chaired by Jackie Dupont-Walker, president of Ward Economic Development Corporation, the group was responsible for drafting a set of guiding principles for future development that were formally adopted by the university in 2007.
In June 2008, the USC Board of Trustees approved the Master Plan, and asked that USC Administration proceed with initializing necessary public approvals.
“USC has a long and proud history in the University Park neighborhood and is committed to being a good neighbor,” said Williams. “Over the years, USC has embraced the UPC area, providing a reliable, vibrant source of social and economic activity.”
USC has long been involved in outreach to our neighbors that enhances public safety, education, economic vitality and health. In fact, the five guiding principles of its neighborhood engagement philosophy are: “Great Schools, Safe Streets, Good Jobs, Home Ownership and Respectful Partnerships.”
With more than 33,000 students and about 11,400 faculty and staff, USC annually generates more than $4 billion in direct and indirect economic activity as a result of its teaching, research and outreach.
Last edited by mendelman; 10 Jan 2011 at 8:07 AM.
What is the point of this thread? Doesn't seem to provoke any discussion.
Or is it just me?
A nuisance may be merely a right thing in the wrong place — like a pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard.
This is a vitally-important topic since universities can be major economic drivers. How well cities and academic institutions work together to compete for the best faculty and the best students can potentially have far-reaching impacts.
I'm interested in ideas for making the universities in my area more competitive. So, I thought I would offer some of the exemplars of which I'm aware in the hope that other people would share some of their own.
I don't buy your thesis at all. Universities are major economic drivers, but their economic impact is regional rather than confined to a small area like the city surrounding it as most faculty and staff are not living on/near campus but in neighborhoods/areas that suit their budgets and personalities, some of which may be many miles distant. If it's primarily a residential campus, most students live on campus. If it's a commuter school, the students are scattered all over the region, although many may come from the very local area, mostly because of convenience.
Moreover, faculty and students don't select colleges based on what the surrounding community is like except in the most general way (for example, picking a school located in/near a major metropolitian area or in a very small town). Students and faculty generally want reasonable access to the kinds of amenities found in most metros if their school is in an urban/suburban area rather than a small town, but other than that, they're far more interested in the school itself, especially the campus. Faculty and staff want safe, reasonably priced housing in decent school districts that they can afford. They want convenient faculty and staff parking. They want decent salaries and benefits. They want an institution that will boost their resumes and/or provide them with job satisfaction if they're not heavily into research and publishing but rather into teaching. Younger faculty are interested in tenure tracks and opportunities to climb professional ladders. Tuition waivers for spouses and children are desirable perks, too.
I'm not a planner, but I am an IT professional working ifor a public community college. I choose to work at the community college where I work now rather than the four year college about 30 miles away that also offered me a position because staff here get four day work weeks in the summer. Living in Cali, I doubt you have any idea how priceless three day weekends all summer are when you live in an area with short summers.
Every college or university's primary mission to provide its students with a good post-secondary education. Some have secondary missions to provide research into various fields, graduate and professional education, etc. Most have additional goals like encouraging the free exchange of ideas, giving students grounding in ethics and/or broadening their world views, etc. Fostering economic development in the immediate area of the school isn't part of any school's mission despite the attempts of many politicians to manipulate public colleges to somehow achieve that.
I particularly like the proposed USC Village, which is worth more than $5 billion. It complements the campus, Exposition Park, and the Shrine Auditorium well, and the project will surely make the university more competitive, especially as the light rail along Exposition Boulevard is finished.
The University of Southern California is private, incidentally.
A very few metro based universities do have a major impact on their communities, Stanford, Harvard, for example. And there are a few with very local impacts such as Michigan and Penn State. But most end part of the landscape. Virtually every part of the US has a college or university and most just absorb them in the general pattern of development.
Rare is the public sector that can actually replicate the highest level of impacts.
Adjacent to a new B.R.T. station, this project, University Park, which is across from San Bernardino State University, encompasses 54 semi-custom detached homes priced between $700,000 and $900,000. The rest of University Park includes: a 10-lot condominium subdivision consisting of 13 hillside detached live/work units, 6 live/work units, and 19 hillside townhomes; 64 cluster detached dwellings; 29 attached townhouses; 35 mixed-use residential units; 1 corporate condominium unit; a 10,000-square-foot University Club; The Newman Center for S.B.S.U. students; and, 15,324-square-feet of restaurant and commercial retail space having a completed market value of $55-68 million.
personally, most of the great college towns I think of were not planned or "built," nor could they be, rather they happened organically over years and generations of students eating at greasy spoons, buying books, and trying to drink underage. [there is something very cool about drinking (in college) at the same bar your father drank at when he was in college.]
also, many student residential nieghborhoods next to campus are often the ex faculty/townie housing turned student getto. its the "old", not the "new," that gives college towns a specially place in the hearts of many... at least in mine.
"Those who plan do better than those who do not plan, even though they rarely stick to their plan." - Winston Churchill
Transit oriented development can be a great thing, but a couple hundred dwelling units and a few commerical/instituional spaces does not have much impact on a neighborhood or transform it into a college community.
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