THE UNIVERSITY AND THE CITY: SOME ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS

Abstract

My purpose here is to share with you some ideas and concems I have about the physical setting of the urban university. In part these ideas and concerns were stimulated by the environmental crisis of the late 1960's, in particular as it was revealed in the erosion of human dignity in major urban settings. However, something else was happening at about the same time right here at the Graduate Center that gave me much food for thought. A relatively old and undistinguished office building was transformed into a unique and indeed prize-winning educational setting. What was happening here made me think a great deal about what had happened and was happening in the development of the physical facilities of other much larger urban colleges or universities.