As we approach mid-decade, the University is turning its attention to infrastructure improvements on campus, including financial aid, academic resources, and more by 2030 in its Boundless Possibility strategic plan.
One key facet of the improvements is their Master Plan, a 15-month-long venture that will create steps for the optimization of the University’s physical space.
The University has brought in multiple teams to help in the process, including Boston-based landscape architect, Gregory Janks.
“We know how much you guys give up and sacrifice to be at a school like this, so we want to make sure [the University’s] resources are being used to their best advantage,” Janks said at a focus group meeting on Sept. 26.
The Master Plan has several goals for bettering the University’s use of resources, including connecting the University’s campuses through additional tunnels, buildings, and sidewalks along with moving student life closer to the center of campus. Teams have also discussed growing the University community in the 19th Ward, renovating Hill Court, converting Southside into graduate housing, ending the Riverview lease, and using space between the River Campus and Medical Center to construct new housing and academic buildings.
The Master Plan also encourages the University to take advantage of its natural resources, especially the Genesee River. In accordance with the 1926 Olmsted Legacy, the Plan hopes to incorporate views of the river into its architecture.
The teams working on the plan also want to incorporate student feedback. They hosted several focus groups throughout September where students could discuss their concerns with campus spaces. Topics included, but were not limited to, the lack of housing and green spaces on campus, and excessive energy use.
