Assessing the optimality and designing the transformation of universities campus using the 15 Minutes University & City model. A study case: the Polytechnic University of Cartagena.

The current European model of university campuses has been shaped over the last two and a half millennia, with architectural examples from at least the 4th century BC. After the discontinuity caused by the fall of the Roman Empire3, the rebirth of institutions dedicated to knowledge from the early Middle Ages took place firstly under the shelter provided by the mini-cities of the monasteries, and later in the framework of the emerging urban centers (Navascués, 1993; Campos, 2000; Bonet, 2002). First under the name of Studies and then as Universities, they have co-evolved with the rest of the city and society (Zillich, 2018). The multiple facets of this coevolution, which implies a strong bidirectional relationship, have had different manifestations throughout history, ranging from dimensions of use and sharing of space; providing the necessary environment for study (seclusion and protection); the training of professionals for local needs; symbolic and political functions, among others. From the urban ensembles of buildings facing inner courtyards in the Middle Ages and Renaissance; through the state universities and polytechnic schools of the 19th century located in palatial buildings open to main avenues and public squares or gardens; then the generalization of “island” campuses located outside cities in the 20th century; and more recently to the regeneration of obsolete industrial or military areas in the interior of cities through the return of some universities (Navascués, 1993; Hall, 1997; Campos, 2000). They all represent different and specific physical responses to this co-evolution. By the end of the twentieth century, there was a growing recognition that universities: have increasing social and economic importance and physical presence in cities; they are long-lived institutions, whose urban forms are expected to be persistent over time; and tend to grow over time (Larkham, 2000). Moreover, in recent decades, it has been brought to the front: 1) the impact of the university on the geographic area and local community, from which it frequently receives public funding and resources, and to which it must seek to compensate fostering mutual benefit4 (Goddard, 2018; Russo et al., 2007); and 2) the need that universities, as emblems and drivers of innovation, stand step ahead as example to move forward urban sustainability (Hebbert, 2018). To achieve the above, integrated governance models have been proposed, for example, the “triple helix” which considers that the private sector and the local community are also stakeholders in university planning, whose needs must also be taken into account in the processes to achieve an optimal synergistic and symbiotic design (Russo et al., 2007). While it becomes evident that many policy aspects are to be considered when reviewing university-city relationships this paper focuses on the physical aspects. Urban sustainability requires university campuses to be integrated within the global urban system, which in turn requires a holistic design of the university to achieve two goals: 1) there is substantial integration between city and university, 2) the university is still perceived as an entity, and not as a set of buildings dispersed across a non-academic setting. Our main hypothesis is that universities’ transformations can achieve the above by maximizing compliance with the 15-minute city model (15MC) criteria when both separately considering non-academic users and academic users. We try to prove our point by revising the evolution and planned transformation of a Spanish university: Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena. In the next section of the paper, relevant arguments about both the design of university campuses and their relationship with the city are introduced. Building on these arguments, a model of sustainable relationship between the university and the city is proposed, as an adaptation of the 15MC model, the 15 Minutes University and City model, 15MUC. Then, we review the current state of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena campus and expected transformations according to the Plan Director approved in 2010. Finally, the article concludes by assessing the validity of this approach model, and making several recommendations to be taken into account in the processes of transformation of university campuses.