Led by Professor Rachel Sara, this project explores how university campuses can be reimagined as regenerative, inclusive, and biodiverse environments through the application of 15-minute city principles. The research investigates how co-created design approaches can support health, wellbeing, biodiversity, and a stronger sense of community within campus environments. The project envisions multifunctional campus infrastructure, such as mobility hubs where students and staff can access e-scooters or e-bikes from solar-powered charging docks. These hubs could also integrate filtered rainwater refill stations, mobile phone charging points, green walls with climbing plants, insect habitats, food-waste composting facilities, weather shelters, and informal social spaces. Designed as open and accessible places, these interventions also support the university’s civic role within the wider city by encouraging community interaction and sustainable practices.
Originating from urban planning, the 15-minute city concept proposes that essential daily needs, including education, work, healthcare, food, and leisure, should be accessible within a short walk or cycle. Applied to the university context, this approach suggests that students and staff should be able to reach teaching spaces, accommodation, services, and recreational facilities within 15 minutes through active travel. Beyond convenience, this model has the potential to support mixed-use, inclusive, and ecologically regenerative campus environments. Drawing on regenerative design principles, which aim to restore and strengthen relationships between human and natural systems, this research adopts a participatory design methodology. The project moves beyond traditional top-down planning approaches by actively involving students and university stakeholders in the co-creation of future campus visions.
The project proposes a re-interpretation of the 15-minute city model for university campuses shifting the focus from efficiency and service access toward ecological consciousness, user autonomy, and the co-evolution of human and natural systems. This ongoing project has built an international collaboration on the 15-minute Campus with partners across EU, including Milan Politechnic, Utrecht University and Reading University.
If you wish to know more about the project or discuss about potential collaboration, please contact Prof. Rachel Sara Rachel.sara@bcu.ac.uk.
Publications and Media:
Sara, R., Albans, A. and Rice, L., 2025. The 15-MinuteCampus: Exploring the Potential Impacts on Biodiversity, Health and Wellbeing of Co-Creating 15-Minute City Design Principles on University Campuses. Architecture, 5(3), p.82. https://doi.org/10.3390/architecture5030082