University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Phase II: Feedback

Your Feedback On Phase II

A narrative summary of comments from the April 22 Public Forum and from the Building UB website

Nearly 1,100 people participated in our April 22, 2008 Public Forum at the Center for the Arts. Nearly 300 of those people filled out comment cards and dozens more people submitted comments electronically to the Building UB website.

These comments reflect the profound interest, deep knowledge, and obvious thoughtfulness which staff, faculty, students, place-making professionals, and members of the broader community brought to their review of the Phase II presentation.

This is a narrative summary of an analysis of those comments based on a careful reading and sorting of all the cards and on-line submissions. You can read all the comments verbatim – nearly 60 pages – on the PDF linked here. You can also see our analysis table that shows how we sorted the comments in an effort to identify some of the dominant ideas in the conversation.

What follows is really just the “headlines” based on a very full day of work by the UB community. But this feedback – in its broad thrust and in its details – is already helping drive the continuing work of the Building UB to create a campus master plan for a great public research university.

Program Locations

• There is a wide variety of views about the appropriate locations of things – Law School, Academic Health Center, etc. – and a general understanding that there are a lot of problems to be solved in transportation, student services, scheduling, technology, and relationships in having three campuses.

Transportation

• While it is agreed that the university depends on people being able to drive to our campuses and park there is a growing understanding that SOV commuting can no longer be a right. We have to consider new pricing policies, promote alternatives modes of transportation, and figure out how to build structured parking.
• There was a strong sense that public transit has to play a bigger role in the life of our campuses, likely with a rail connection to South, but also with better bus service to the whole region, improved shuttle service, and some kind of universal transit pass at least for students.
• There is a lot of support for measures to promote bicycling as an alternative including the creation and designation of safe routes and bike paths, secure storage, showers, information, and more.
• Concerns about the pedestrian environment focused on issues of safety at particular locations (Putnam, Audubon, Flint & Maple, Main, Goodell) and issues of comfort and weather protection especially on North Campus. Maybe some of our North Campus thoroughfares can be “downsized.”
• A much wider array of possibilities need to be explored, including Zipcar, car-pooling, flex-time, telecommuting, teleconferencing and more.

Sustainability

• Participants understood that making our campuses more sustainable means alternative modes of transportation, more energy-efficient buildings, exploring the possibilities of generating our own renewable power, and shaping patterns of development in more efficient ways.
• People seemed to like the idea of creating a new recreational and naturalized “greenbelt” around the North Campus.

North Campus

• Across the board, participants agreed that making stronger connections to Lake LaSalle, providing access, and bringing life to the water, made sense for North Campus.
• The idea of building a new “Main Street” to connect the Spine to the Ellicott Complex drew favor in general, but with a warning that the path should be weather protected or enclosed.
• Many members of the staff wanted to know “what about Crofts Hall”? It’s neglected, isolated, underserved and in need of repair. What do we do?

South Campus

• Many people identified the need to improve our connections with the surrounding communities both physically and programmatically.
• Many others suggested that UB should become an active partner in stabilizing and redeveloping the University Heights neighborhood for better housing, business districts, and public safety.
• Public safety was a concern for all three campus locations – but especially on South.

Downtown Campus

• Participants displayed a rather sophisticated understanding that UB’s presence Downtown needs to be internally coherent and well-identified and at the same time well-integrated with UB’s partners on the medical campus.
• Specialists in the staff session identified a range of issues that need attention, including the need to support an inter-professional model of medical education, to support the needs of patients in clinical trials, and design a continuum of spaces for activities from educational to clinical to research to commercialization.
• Many others pointed to the necessity of UB cultivating strong relationships and connections with the adjacent neighborhoods and to support them in their endeavors.
• There was strong support for pursuing adaptive re-use strategies making use of existing buildings downtown, starting with the Trico factory building, and going beyond.
• Some were concerned that new buildings – especially the mega-structured illustrated in the presentation – would be out of scale with the district and its neighbors.
• Several asked how we would define the new “UB Gateway” as something more than the sum of its parts.

Other issues

• There was lots of interest in the “Learning Landscape” concepts, but also a lot of questions about cost, management, maintenance, security, and more.
• The idea of using glass (and replacing brick) to open up the North Campus found a lot of favor. Others called for more exciting architecture and public art.
• People were interested in a wider array of food service choices, hours, locations, etc.
• There was support for improved retail services – but not at the expense of South Campus area businesses.
• A fitness center – or one on each campus – drew enthusiastic support.
• Many supported the idea of libraries as a quiet place for study, consultation with librarians and browsing for books
• Others emphasized the need to design to suit the climate – including a winter garden.