Greensboring.com | Greensboro, NC

Downtown advocates and educational leaders are taking advantage of the colleges and universities that border downtown by proposing a downtown university district. So far its just a concept and not an official plan but it could include a building or a small campus where all of the city's colleges and universities would collaborate. Cone Health would also be a part of this effort. This would be different from the NC A&T and UNCG joint research park on the east side of town. I created a few drawings below showing where this university district could go. I placed the district in the southwest quadrant of downtown bordering the greenway. I included an architecture school because the educational community is trying to lure an architectural school to Greensboro. It would be the third school in North Carolina. NC State in Raleigh and UNC Charlotte both have architectural design programs. An architecture school in Greensboro would compliment UNC Greensboro's interior architecture program as well as NC A&T's architectural engineering program. Students from the different colleges can collaborate on one project. A&T students would work on the architectural engineering while UNCG students would work on the interior architecture. Students at the joint architecture school would come up with the exterior design.

I chose this strategic location off of Lee Street because its just a few blocks east of UNCG expansion projects (Spartan Village). It would also tie in with Greensboro College expansion site and the South Elm/Lee Street development which will include educational facilities, residential, a hotel, international market, retail and civic space. In addition, Gateway University Research Park is also on Lee Street about 3 miles east of downtown so it would be on the same corridor.


My concept includes an art park and a small amphitheater near the architecture school as well as signature bridge sculpture over the Eugene Street bridge. Since the architecture school would be a joint school, I would call it the University of North Carolina School of Architecture. Architecture students could use the art park for outdoor class assignments.



students can walk or ride a bike on the greenway between the developments

I like the idea. In fact, I think if Greensboro ever has a chance at ever surviving the future of economies, and the competitiveness of surrounding areas, it's in the educational sector.

I do believe a strategic, and contrived effort by local government to move city planning in this direction is the only answer.

I'd love to see the universities join.

The future of education is combined facilities, and resources. Combining campuses, and a robust public transport systems to make it happen.

Unfortunately, I doubt I will see anything as extreme as I would want to see in my life-time.

I agree Liv. Education is our strong point and we dont leverage it like we should. While manufacturing and logistics are great, they dont attract the kind of jobs and that creative class that we are seeking. We need to become more of a white collar business town and we can only do that through education, not trucks and warehouses. This is what leads to great things like performing arts centers, high end retail and high density urban development. Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham's economic success didn't come from performing arts centers, arenas and professional sports teams. That was a result of what those cities have done to grow their economies. Some question if we even have the demographics now to support a 3,000 seat performing arts center. Maybe we are trying to put the cart before the horse. I don't know. Baseball stadiums and performing arts centers are great, but thats not going to lead to the economic success Charlotte and Raleigh are experiencing today. If we increase our tax revenue in this city through job creation, particularly high paying jobs, we'll be able to build more great things that will improve the quality of life here.

The question is will our leaders have the vision, desire and political will to take the university concept as far as I have proposed? Or will we just be satisfied with an 80,000 sq ft building? We need to start putting a vision and plan together. That's what Winston-Salem has done. While some may think my ideas are pie in the sky, Winston-Salem and their educational community came up with a plan for a 200 acre urban research park with housing, retail, park space and water streams. (That is certainly bigger in size and scope than what is depicted in my drawings) The city is planning to return streetcars to the downtown streets. Sure none of this may be feasible today but that's not the point. The point is they have a vision and a game plan. They are looking 30 years down the road, not just 8 years down the road. They are planning for things they can't support today. Its never to early to start thinking big. Quite frankly, We may be a little larger than Winston-Salem in population, but their forward thinking mentality exceeds the mentality of this community. We need to have a 20 or 30 year plan for our downtown. What should our downtown look like in 20 or 30 years? Do we even have a plan in place once available downtown land becomes scarce? If we don't have a vision or a game plan, downtown is going to change very little in 20 years and land opportunities will be wasted on mediocre development projects.

The university district is something we should really jump on because it will not only attract development in our downtown, it will help attract companies to our city. This unique collaboration will lead to partnerships with the business community. It also sets Greensboro apart because while other communities in the state have research parks, none of them have a joint campus and university district as I have depicted. It gives Greensboro a chance to lead in something instead of following what Charlotte and Raleigh are doing. This is the kind of thing that gives Greensboro national attention and thats what we want. Its about time other cities start using Greensboro as a role model.

Vision is something America in general lacks, but North Carolina as a whole has a huge deficit. Greensboro has had many chances to be great, technically still does... but it won't happen as long as the elect the less riskier options.