Reporter Volume 26, No.20 March 9, 1995

By LISA WILEY
News Bureau Staff
The UB North Campus could look a lot different in the year 2025 than
it does today -- more trees, less lawn space and shops mingled with
academic buildings along the main "Spine" area -- according to "UB
2025," an exhibit that opened earlier this month in Lockwood Library
on the North Campus. 
	The exhibit, which will run through the end of March in the
second-floor reference room of Lockwood, is based on the "UB 2025
Proposal" -- a 30-year plan to transform the North Campus environment
into a greener, more energy-efficient, well-managed, "campus-like"
environment.
	The plan, created by the Land-Use Subcommittee of the
university's Environmental Task Force, has been in the works for three
years.
	The exhibit was designed and mounted by subcommittee members
Julie Barrett, a UB undergraduate student in environmental studies and
a former chair of the subcommittee; Adam Brozost and Michael
Poczkalski, UB graduate students in architecture, and Gary Day and
Lynda Schneekloth, both UB associate professors of architecture. 
	The display consists of blueprints and photographs that depict
how the campus would look if sharply divided into parklike, urbanized
and naturalized areas.
	"There are significant benefits that can be gained from a plan
like this," said Ronald Nayler, chair of the Environmental Task Force
and associate vice president for University Facilities. The first
stage in the approval process is to obtain administrative support for
the concept in principle, Nayler said, adding that he expects to
present the comments on the plan to the administration in April. The
project's costs have not yet been projected, he said.
	"You can't just look at the budget for this year or next
year," Barrett noted. "It's going to take us at least 30 years --
which would take us to 2025." 
	The benefits of dividing the campus into parklike, urbanized
and naturalized areas would include reduced overall costs and energy
consumption, an enhanced and more diverse community of ecosystems and
increased natural beauty, educational benefits, recreational
opportunities and prestige for the university.
	The areas that would be "naturalized" are on the periphery of
campus, have the most potential and offer the most in terms of
ecological benefits, Barrett said. They include the Ellicott, LaSalle
and Flint woods; the Bitzer Creek Corridor and the Letchworth Woods
Extension. The exhibit defines the lawn area as "a green desert,"
noting there are negative aspects of maintaining a lawn-based
landscape, including low biodiversity and productivity, and high
energy/fuel consumption. Naturalizing this land would involve allowing
the grass to grow and planting more trees, thereby reducing the yearly
cost to maintain a lawn-based landscape.
	The "urbanized" area of campus, defined as the outdoor "Spine"
area from Capen Hall along the Student Activity Center to the edge of
Lake LaSalle, is depicted in the exhibit as being full of activity,
with shops and stalls similar to those featured at the bustling Quincy
Market and Fanuel Hall in Boston. Noting that there is a tendency for
students, faculty and staff to feel "locked up" inside buildings on
the North Campus, Barrett explained that an urbanized area would
encourage people to go outdoors.
The exhibit defines the "parklike" area as being the parkways,
"official" playing fields, the south and
south and west sides of the lakes and land around dormitories,
administrative complexes and parking lots. These settings -- composed
of lawns interspersed with trees, shrubs and wildflower fields --
provide places for outdoor activities and open vistas to campus. Each
of these areas would allow the university to add to the variety of the
landscape, while reducing overall maintenance costs.
	In addition to the blueprints and photographs, the exhibit
also includes interactive components -- two graffiti boards and two
North Campus blueprint boards -- for viewers to "be an architect for
the day." Observers may convey their ideas by writing, drawing or
highlighting the sheets.
	Up until now, the subcommittee has received only limited
feedback from the university community-at-large. Schneekloth notes
that subcommittee and task force members will record and seriously
review the comments offered at the library.