A civic and sustainable 15-minute campus? Universities should embrace the 15-minute city concept to help create vibrant sustainable communities

This article, based on research conducted at Staffordshire University, looks at the value of applying the 15-minute city concept to city-based university campuses. We argue that attention to the public realm within and beyond university campuses has the potential to reduce carbon emissions, enhance civic engagement and status, and improve the vibrancy and liveability of university cities. In addition to this, the 15-minute approach addresses aspects of poverty and inequality through the relative affordability of sustainable travel and access to affordable good and services. To realise these benefits Universities must focus on three key areas; 1) Establishing porous campus boundaries where services and functions can be shared with the local community and vice versa; 2) Playing an active role in evaluating and improving the sustainability and livability of the urban area surrounding the university campus; 3) Becoming a travel hub – promoting, enhancing and enabling high quality public transport and active travel networks to reduce reliance on private vehicles. The 15-minute campus approach marks a distinct change from the idea of a ‘sticky campus’ where the university is seen as an enclosed one-stop resource for staff and students – an environment often set apart and secured from its host city. Our notion of a 15-minute campus is a more civic minded conception that promotes an awareness of what lies both within and beyond the confines of the campus, challenging the definition of what the university is, and who it is for.