Connecting modernist university campuses and their cities. From current mobility patterns to sustainable mobility scenarios for the university of Buenos Aires campus, Argentina

Abstract

Many university campuses inspired by modernist architectural ideals were built in locations peripheral to their city contexts, leading to current unsustainable car-dependent mobility patterns. This paper explores this problem through a study of the main campus of the University of Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria (CU), in Argentina. The aim is to estimate the environmental benefits associated with shifting to a more sustainable modal split. To do this an online survey was conducted to generate baseline information on current travel patterns and associated CO2 emissions. Then, research-by-design methods were applied to create two scenarios of incremental levels of transportation sustainability. Finally, the CO2 emissions associated with each scenario´s mobility pattern were evaluated. Compared to the baseline, it was estimated that the first scenario would result in 7.1% of CO2 emissions reductions, while the second scenario would yield a reduction of 27.7%.