Neighborhoods should be more like a college campus.
As I walked to class today, I noticed it was a very pleasant day. People ride by on scooters and walk in groups with friends. Some leave their dorms to walk to class or to get breakfast. I noticed that a college campus feels like an ideal city. Campuses are walkable communities that have more mixed uses in a smaller dense area. This is designed this way to make students feel welcome and safe. Having everything you need within walking distance and having it convenient and friendly for pedestrians. Most universities don't assume every student has a car for transportation. This is lacking many times in American city design especially in suburban developments. This same way of thought in designing a campus is how our neighborhoods should be designed.
Most large campuses are set up like small cities or neighborhoods. There's housing, restaurants, libraries, gyms, coffee shops, entertainment, gathering places, and of course school, all within walking distance. The campus is essentially a small city to facilitate an environment for kids to be safe and learn. My university for example, the University of Alabama in Huntsville is essentially just set up to facilitate making engineers.
This idea of a campus as an ideal city is used in architecture also. The collegiate style of architecture began in the late 1800s with using Gothic style buildings that look much older than when they were built to look like it has been there for much longer than it has. This gives the illusion or feeling that is safe, stable and a fortress for learning.
This is used by many prestigious university that have a reputation of being prestigious or high class, and being historic. Specific examples of this used is Yale University’s Farnam Hall, Harvard’s Memorial Hall, and Cornell University’s Sage Hall. See these examples. This use of building in historic styles to give the feeling of permanence is used in churches, government buildings, and banks as well.
This use of architecture can bring in another aspect of creating an environment for students. Having a walkable livable area as well as having beautiful buildings and surroundings is how our neighborhood should be thought of. This could improve happiness in people and encourage getting outside, when they can leave their house and are welcomed into the world instead of seperated from it. Our neighborhoods should be convenient and well suited to many different people like college campuses are, opposed to designing with assumptions or a particular target audience. It is attainable to be able to have everything we need within walking distance. We should look at our neighborhoods as small cities that facilitate an environment to be safe and learn. Neighborhoods should be more like a college campus.
