Campuses as Sustainable Urban Engines—A Morphological Approach to Campus Social Sustainability

Abstract

This paper focuses on university campuses and precincts, and their roles within urban context. It explores the role campus morphology plays in the local impact of the institution, fostering its ability to engage in successful urban dynamics, as well as acting as an urban engine. The aim is to provide a methodological description of its elements and their morphological traits with an effect on campus integration within its adjacent environments. It is argued that one of the major aspects of sustainable development in universities relies on the relationships established between university and its environs, since universities perform a key role in urban dynamics in the current context of knowledge based societies and economies. Their impact exceeds the physical connection and their environmental footprint, as universities largely contribute to bringing dynamism to cities, through their mission, actors, activities and flows of movement. Thus, campus social sustainability relies on the relationships established between university and its environs.