American Places: In Search of the Twenty-First Century Campus [Hardcover]

Chapman takes into consideration the current pressures on college campuses to provide not only a sense of place for students and staff but also space for ideas about more healthy and humane civic environments. Going far beyond the questions of where to put the quad and how to shield the offal coming in and out of dining halls, Chapman describes the changes in the academic village in the twentieth century, the effects of cyberspace and globalization along with the new demography and finance, the role of the campus as civic and marketplace metaphor, and the ethic of place in finding a harmonic convergence. He closes with commentary on finding an American campus form that meets the demands of the next generation for sustainability and responsibility.For the college campus, place means much more than just geography and physical setting. It is the sum of the experiences, activities, events, and memories that occur within the campus. American institutions of higher education are giving renewed attention to the question of how the quality and character of place can support the endeavors of the institutions. In doing so, campus communities are seeking to reclaim ground that was lost in the decades after World War II, when the traditional virtues of campus coherence, human scale, and place distinction were overtaken by explosive growth in attendance rates and the growing prevalence of automobiles. American Places calls for campuses to be conceived, not only to heighten the quality of the learning experience, but also as working demonstrations of how places everywhere can be transformed into more healthy, humane, civic environments. As campuses and communities are reshaped by societal forces, the campus will endure as a vital civil learning environment well into the 21st century. American Places calls for campuses to be designed, not only to heighten the quality of the learning experience, but also as working demonstrations of ways in which places everywhere can be transfolƒ»