Sustainable Campus

Considering Penn State’s University Park campus as a small city, research elements

of the “Sustainable Cities” concept to design or redesign elements of the campus to be sustainable and how your concepts

might be implemented.

Project Requirements

The campus systems to consider include (but are not limited to):• Sustainable housing and buildings: their (re)design and layout on the

campus • Sustainable energy sources used within all buildings• Sustainable transportation both to and from the campus and within the

campus• Sustainable food and water systems• Recycling, reuse, and reduction of solid waste and sustainable means of

handling municipal waste• Sustainable means of managing human (and possibly agricultural) waste• Participatory schemes to maximize use of sustainable technologies• Innovative ways to use the campus as a “classroom” for sustainable living

Considerations• Select an element or system of the campus to investigate. Your instructor

will make clear how your class will divide up the systems and include any possible additional systems not listed above.

• Examine your element as a system and examine at all inputs and outputs• Consider the connections to the Borough of State College and Centre

County (and the region, state, country if need be)• Investigate behavior—how will people share the sustainable vision? • How will possible emotions involving feelings of sacrifice regarding quality

of life be dealt with?• Economic viability—describe overall system economics and sustainable

financial plan

Key Deliverables

• Technical report– Team-generated definition of sustainability– Description of alternative concepts and their evaluation– Equipment/installation/maintenance cost estimate for

items selected– Economic return on investment analysis– Implementation plan

• Model or prototype of the systemNote: Your instructor will clarify her or his expectations for these deliverables and respective due dates