Evolution of an Academic Village: Vision for Inner South Portland

This vision of an Academic Village is a culmination of three months of work by 12 students in the Spring 2007 Urban Design Workshop at Portland State University. Our understanding of the Academic Village arose out of an exploration of connections between neighboring academic institutions – Portland State University, Oregon Health and Sciences University on Marquam Hill, and OHSU’s emerging campus on the South Waterfront – and the Corbett and Lair Hill neighborhoods. We discovered that people from these institutions and communities live, work, study, and play in a shared urban space, but that the potential for creating an Academic Village is bounded by the history and physical characteristics of that urban space. We would like to illustrate how an Academic Village can be a major asset to the city of Portland and its residents. By combining the resources and ideals of our academic institutions with the vitality of our urban and community institutions, our vision seeks to bring our academic and community nodes closer together at many different levels. By highlighting how barriers to interaction and connectivity can be overcome, we hope to pave the way for an Academic Village that will embody sustainable ideals, contribute to the economic health of our region, and foster a deeper “sense of place.” This project was conducted under the supervision of Donald J. Stastny and Edward Starkie