About The Plan
The 2024 Physical Campus Master Plan Update emerges from a process of listening, exploration, and discussion that generates ideas and possibilities to meet our community's goals for this campus and how it serves our educational mission.
What Is A Physical Campus Master Plan?
An opportunity for the University of Cincinnati to leverage what’s working, re-examine issues, and prioritize goals. This project will guide the physical development of the campus, to provide short and long-term objectives with a 30-year outline and serve as an extension of the Strategic Plan to meet the educational needs of the state and beyond through a commitment to student success, excellence, community engagement, and lifelong learning.
Have We Ever Done This Before?
The University of Cincinnati has a history of physical planning that is integrated with its strategic, academic, programmatic, space management and enrollment plans. These plans are updated approximately every 10 years to stay current with academic, research, and student life needs. The goal for this new Campus Master Plan will clearly articulate the concepts and constructs that make the University distinctive and meaningful to the campus community and beyond.
Why Is This Important To Me?
The Educational Landscape is Changing
To stay current with academic, research, and student life needs, the University's goals articulate the concepts that make UC distinctive and meaningful to the community and beyond.
As Part of the UC's Community, Your Voice Matters.
We want to hear your perspective on the spaces that you feel will make the campus even more vibrant, connected, usable, and beautiful. Your thoughts, concerns, and feedback throughout the planning process will help guide this process and shape the physical campus for years to come. We will look at topics such as buildings, streets, parking, walkways, open spaces, learning environments, and many other physical campus elements during this process. We will work together to create a campus for the next generation of students, faculty, and staff.
To stay current with academic, research, and student life needs, the University's goals articulate the concepts that make UC distinctive and meaningful to the community and beyond.
As Part of the UC's Community, Your Voice Matters.
We want to hear your perspective on the spaces that you feel will make the campus even more vibrant, connected, usable, and beautiful. Your thoughts, concerns, and feedback throughout the planning process will help guide this process and shape the physical campus for years to come. We will look at topics such as buildings, streets, parking, walkways, open spaces, learning environments, and many other physical campus elements during this process. We will work together to create a campus for the next generation of students, faculty, and staff.
Your Partner
Under the direction of the Associate VP for Planning Design and Construction, the University of Cincinnati has partnered with SmithGroup to guide this process. SmithGroup is recognized as a leading campus planning and design firm in the United States and provides UC with full-service, multidisciplinary planning and design, thought leadership, data visualization, and research planning.
Our Process
Each phase builds upon the previous one to generate ideas and deepen our understanding of the issues and opportunities that will inform the campus planning effort. We look forward to hearing from you!
Understand
Campus planning starts with a process of discovery—getting to know UC: your goals, aspirations, current challenges, and opportunities for the future. We will gain a deep understanding of the campus’s existing facilities condition, capacity, and the way they are currently used. Systems affecting the daily life of the campus will be assessed. These systems determine the physical framework of the campus and opportunities for sustainable development.
Explore
During this phase, we will use data and analysis completed in the previous phase to produce a comprehensive understanding of campus challenges and opportunities. We will test different ways to organize uses on campus, update facilities, enhance systems, and enliven spaces. From testing ideas, we will share options for the future of the campus for discussion and debate.
Realize
The strongest ideas that emerge will be combined into the 2024 Physical Campus Master Plan Update. This plan will add specificity to the character, location, and amount of new development, renovation, reuse, or re-purposed space. Additionally, we will create recommendations for improvements to campus. During this last phase, we will document the plan in a final report and provide a flexible framework to help guide your future vision!
Our Schedule
The Understand Phase
Spring Semester 2024 / February - June 2024
The Understand Phase includes Campus Visit #1 in March, which will kick off the Discovery process, followed by interpretation of findings.
Findings and Analysis are then presented at Campus Visit #2 in May.
Findings and Analysis are then presented at Campus Visit #2 in May.
The Explore Phase
Summer and Fall 2024 / June - December 2024
The Explore Phase includes development of the preliminary plan. Campus Visit #3 in September will include review of the preliminary plan, and work on that plan culminates in Campus Visit #4 around November, when the Preliminary Plan in presented to the campus community.
The Realize Phase
Spring Semester 2025 / December 2024 - May 2025
The Realize Phase includes development of the Final Master Plan. The Final Plan is presented at Campus Visit #5 in February 2025, with the final report delivered to UC around the end of April 2025.
