A recent acquisition in the Library is a book called Campus and the City, edited by Kerstin Hoeger and Kees Christiaanse. The book is written by renowned experts, who present and comment on current trends in campus design worldwide. Details of thirty campuses – greenfield, inner-city, high-tech and corporate – shed light on possible future trends and on how these relate to the urban context.
The book looks at restructuring outdated postwar campuses and establishing new university and commercial districts. In addition, corporations and academic institutions alike are increasingly seeking strategies capable of encouraging innovation and synergy in their research centres, often drawing on the existing potential of their surroundings. This volume addresses important aspects of new conceptions of the campus – ranging from forms of spatial organisation that promote internal knowledge transfer and social interaction, to different types of urban design strategies aimed at creating sustainable centres of knowledge and learning that are responsive to society’s ever changing demands.
These are all issues which will be of interest to those involved in the Greater Belfast Development. In fact, according to the blog UrbanIQ, “this book is a must-read for anyone involved in campus (re) development”. UrbanIQ also contains information and support on a project (EUniversities) which aims to increase the amount of co-operation between cities and universitities in Europe. The book is available in Jordanstown Library, more details here.
