Smart Growth and Colleges and Universities
Higher Education and the Built Environment
Colleges and universities influence the built environment in many ways. Since they are anchor institutions, they typically stay in their location indefinitely, intertwining their future with the surrounding community's.
Higher education institutions often act as developers, through the maintenance, expansion, and/or new construction of their facilities either on or off campus. They are typically responsible for providing classrooms, offices, research space, laboratories, administrative offices, housing, and community and recreational facilities. They also often provide transportation facilities that include parking lots, buses, bikes, bike racks, and micro-mobility, such as electric scooters. Schools are commonly a local economic driver and employer, either through jobs directly affiliated with the institution or through ancillary research centers, businesses, and other uses. When universities promote walkability on campus and within the nearby community and invest in local revitalization efforts, these choices can have major environmental and economic benefit for the institutions, local neighborhoods, and the larger region.
Colleges and universities also provide a place of instruction and learning for those who will influence development patterns, either professionally or as community members, and produce theoretical and applied research on the built environment. Through their teaching, research, and service missions, colleges and universities teach best practices, provide professional training, and analyze land use policies and practice. Much of this educational effort comes from traditional courses in programs dealing with the built environment, including planning, architecture, policy, law, engineering, sustainability, and public health.
Visit our publications page for a list of publications about smart growth for colleges and universities.
Service and Technical Assistance
Many colleges and universities provide technical assistance and services to local governments, nonprofits, and other organizations interested in more sustainable and resilient development outcomes. Most assistance involves applied research and direct technical assistance through contracts, class projects, or a combination of both. Others may include training for elected officials, municipal leaders, planning commissioners, local government staff, and community groups.
EPA often partners with institutions of higher learning and sees these organizations as resources on the built environment and equitable development. For example, EPA's Office of Community Revitalization collaborates with several research institutions through its work on the Smart Growth Network. EPA also facilitates assistance between colleges and communities through the College/Underserved Community Partnership Program (CUPP).
In 2022, EPA launched a national training and capacity building programs with local centers for communities across the country with infrastructure concerns. These 29 Environmental Finance Centers (EFCs) help communities across the country access federal funding for water infrastructure projects that improve public health and environmental protection. Many of these local centers are based out of universities or feature partnerships between universities and multiple parties.
The following non-comprehensive list provides examples of university-based service centers, applied research programs and institutes, and community partnerships across the country.
- University of Maryland
National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education: Works in four subject areas: community development, creative placemaking, land use, and international planning. - Georgia Institute of Technology
College of Design's Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development: Focuses on quality growth in order to promote vibrant, equitable, and sustainable places. - Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis
Public Policy Institute: Focuses on urban policy, intergovernmental cooperation, community and economic development, housing, environmental, and fiscal affairs research. - Rutgers University
Center for Urban Policy Research: Focuses on service, education, and research to promote making human settlements healthier, equitable, sustainable, and resilient. - University of Florida
Environmental and Community Development Clinic: An interdisciplinary and applied education effort focused on land use and environmental law. - University of Hawaii
Sea Grant Program and School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology: Facilitates collaborative projects that promote sustainable development and community planning. - University of Oregon
Institute for Policy Research and Engagement's Community Planning Workshop: Works with clients throughout the state to address current planning and policy topics. - University of Wisconsin
Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture's Wisconsin Idea: Conducts applied research and service projects, including community outreach and workshops.