Campus Planning is the process that guides the design of the campus so that it is functional, flexible and beautiful.

• A vital University needs facilities that effectively support its three-part mission of teaching, research, and public service.
• The campus itself is a strong recruitment tool for faculty and staff.
• Among other considerations, students make their decisions about which college to attend based on the "look and feel" of the campus.
• We must avoid the mistakes of our past if we are to retain the best qualities of our campus. Without careful stewardship, university campuses can lost their open spaces -- their distinguishing features -- to new construction

The fundamental premise of our plan, established by the 1975 book The Oregon Experiment, is that we make planning decisions by following a process rather than an established image of the campus. A well-articulated set of policies, within which decisions are made, is essential to the success of the campus plan. This approach allows us the flexibility to develop the campus in a number of different ways without destroying the essential features that make it campus, namely its open spaces.

The Campus Plan is a framework of patterns and policies defining the qualities inherent to a functional, beautiful campus and setting forth how those qualities will be preserved and expanded with new construction. It is an internal document describing developement consistend with the city of Eugene land-use zones in which the campus resides. Development consistent with the Campus Plan does not require review by the city for land-use zone consistency.

The Campus Plan includes provisions that go well beyond what is typical for meaningful input from students, faculty, staff, and other affected individuals. It ensures the preservation of the instructional core and the preservation and expansion of the network of interconnected open spaces that originated from Ellis Lawrence's early 20th-century planning efforts. In addition, long-standing, innovative transportation policies have created a pedestrian- and bike-friendly campus.

The Campus Plan was updated in 2004-2005.

Click here for a pdf version of the information below.

The goal of the Campus Plan Update project was to update the 1991 Long Range Campus Development Plan (1991 LRCDP), while maintaining its fundamental concepts, so that it would effectively guide the next ten years of campus development.

The LRCDP was almost fifteen years old at the beginning of the update process (2004). It had guided the university through an active period of development and improvements resulting in a noticeably enhanced campus environment. Although the fundamental concepts of the LRCDP remained effective, portions of the 1991 document needed to be evaluated for potential improvements, and outdated information needed to be revised.

The university’s emphasis on user participation was evident throughout the update process and remains a key part of the updated Campus Plan. Opportunities for input began in the summer of 2004 with meetings among key campus and community members, who defined the scope of the update and the participatory process.

A core Advisory Group representing faculty, staff, and students, the Campus Planning Committee, Facilities Services, and others served as a review body throughout development of the first draft. A wide range of individuals and groups reviewed the first draft between January 2005 and the Campus Planning Committee’s public hearing on April 12, 2005. In addition to the public hearing, over twenty events and meetings were held including an open house, focus group meetings, a follow-up Advisory Group meeting, Campus Planning Committee workshops and meetings, key-party follow-up meetings, and presentations to the University Senate, Faculty Advisory Committee, and Space Committee.

Following the public hearing, the Campus Planning Committee completed its review of the updated Plan, taking into consideration all input provided by interested parties. It forwarded a recommendation to approve the updated Plan to the university president, who provided final approval May 31, 2005. The final Campus Plan was submitted to the City of Eugene, which affirmed that the Campus Plan is in compliance with the Metropolitan Area General Plan on July 12, 2005.

Contact Christine Thompson at the University Planning Office via e-mail (cthomps@uoregon.edu) or by phone at (541) 346-5572.