AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
2.2 Concepts of university campuses by Šaling et al. (2008),
later more developed by
Čibik et al. (2020)
The American concept is represented by a continuous,
compact campus, located in the suburbs or outside the city,
with the character of an urban satellite and a tendency to
gradually expand the campus away from the city center
level, often conditioning the urbanization of city structures
by building facilities for students.
The European concept is represented by a set of buildings
located in an urban, pre-existing development or a park.
These tend to be university-owned buildings dispersed
within the city in a disorganized manner, with vaguely
defined boundaries of the campus. These are various
faculties, libraries, dormitories, workplaces and others.
The combined concept is a merger of the two above-
mentioned concepts, where compact areas are created in
the city center or its immediate vicinity. They are often
open and connected to urban structures, often characterized
as public or semi-public space. Such university campus is
mostly the result of gradual urbanization in the proximity
of the original sate
llite university campus (Čibik et al.,
2020). Some concepts describe the campus as an irregular
or regular formation. According to Irvin (2007), a campus
is irregular if its structures are closer in character to a park
- an open green area and regular if, on the contrary, it
possesses the character of urban development.
2.3 Role of university campuses in urban landscapes
Higher education and continuously increasing job opportunities
in the labor market are drawing young people to study at
universities. University campuses are a consequence of the
gradual expansion of universities. The influx of new students
was so substantial that the spatial capacity of historic buildings
in city centers simply did not suffice and the system of
university buildings changed significantly, especially in the 50s
and 80s of the 20th century. The term university campus is
derived from the Latin term "campus" which in translation
means "field" or "plain". This leads us to a deduction of how the
university campuses were once conceived (in the field behind the
city) and what is behind their name. Sprawling complexes
became urban satellites and were the first institutions to provide
education for all social classes in addition to traditional
universities for the exclusive private education sector (Glare,
1982). If the individual capacities of the universities still proved
insufficient, the free space around them allowed them to expand.
With their own urbanization, they have often conditioned the
urbanization of the city itself, and together with boarding schools
and new faculties, they paved the way to creation of new
housing estates for families with children, parks, schools,
kindergartens and other services or institutions. University
campuses have been an important part of human culture for
centuries. In cities, they are often conceived on their borders,
where they form a separate unit. At their borders, they create
their own ecosystem and their impact on functioning,
sustainability, green and blue infrastructure, and the overall
appearance of the city is smaller compared to university
campuses that are located in urbanized city structures, where
they play their role more prominently. A university campus
located in the center of urban structures and not on their edge has
a greater impact, whether positive or negative, on the
functioning, appearance and functions of the city than the
university campus which is located on its borders. The university
campus situated on the very edge of the resident area can also
significantly influence the operation of the city, provided that its
quality, size or importance (urban, regional, national) does not
lag behind or excels over other services and premises within the
city. These are predominantly university cities of usually smaller
size, also known as "college cities" within North America.
2.4 University campus as a public space
The name "University Campus" in itself characterizes who its
premises are intended for. People perceive the premises of the
university campus, but often feel reluctant to spending time in it.
They assume that the campus is private, that it belongs to the
university and not to everyone, and they do not feel comfortable
entering it. Although the boundaries of the university campus
must be clearly defined, it is better if they are made up of
buildings and open spaces, such as walls or a fence. Within the
character of the surrounding development, there is a discussion
about semi-public or semi-private space, but as a final result it is
always a collective space that should guarantee comfortable use
for all groups of the population, regardless of age, social or
c
ultural background and regardless of handicap (Lukačovič et
al., 2016). According to Fassi et al. (2016), in addition to
education, the campus also fulfills the function of a public space.
The diversity of the university's premises represents the
possibility of variant use of the campus through several
functions. This space can also be used for various activities, such
as recreational and relaxation activities. Thanks to its sports
grounds, green areas, libraries, cultural spaces and concert halls,
the university campus is a place of activities that are intended not
only for students and staff of the university, but also for the
majority of the city and region. According to graph 1 we can
clearly say, that people are willing to go for recreation and the
campus in the city center can be a good opportunity how to
secure it. The campus can be seen as an example of how this
dialogue can develop by bringing the public and the academia
together. This is especially true for campuses in smaller cities, as
metropolitan institutions (Bender, 1998) often face serious
security concerns. On the contrary, school premises in small
towns tend to be public, open and attractive and are destined to
become typical urban spaces. University campuses can be
characterized as public spaces if they fulfill their requirements,
especially openness and accessibility (Čibik et al., 2020).
Graph 1: In July 2012, a study was published in the American
Journal of Preventive Medicine, elaborated by the Center for
Social Epidemiology and Population Health, which maps and
evaluates people's walking distances. The graph presents a
comparison of the percentage of people with the time they are
willing to travel on foot due to activities such as recreation,
work, shopping and eating.
Source:
Yang and Diez-Roux (2012), vectorized by authors.
3 Research background, materials and methodology
The aim of the presented research was to map the different
approaches of Austrian cities to the design of university
campuses, to evaluate them through various analyzes and their
own methodology, and to process the results of these
evaluations. As part of the research, a working database of
university campuses was created, referred to as urban university
campuses. For the needs of this research, the three largest
Austrian cities were selected – Vienna (Vienna), Graz (Styria)
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