What Guides Us

Building on the university’s unique history, we collaborate with students, faculty, staff, residents, and campus Host Nations and Indigenous communities to create a resilient, inclusive, climate-neutral urban campus where teaching, learning and research and complete neighbourhoods thrive. 

Our work supports the university’s academic mission and commitment to reconciliation while enhancing human, community, and ecological wellbeing. We aim to create accessible, socially-connected and financially sustainable urban campuses where people feel safe, included and empowered.

We create a place that supports partnerships between the academy, private partners, not-for-profit and social enterprise groups. We see the campus as a living lab – a place to research, test and implement innovative approaches in urban planning and sustainability for UBC and its regions.

We champion planning, designing, building, engaging and operating in ways that tackle the climate emergency – returning more to our campus ecologies and communities than what is taken out, creating net-positive impacts for people and the environment, and honouring the land and ecosystems that support the campuses.

We integrate multiple interests, ideas and priorities into a vision for our campuses that meets the aspirations of the university and its communities in the context of uncertainty, growth and change. This includes surfacing often unheard voices. We stay ahead of the curve in planning, design, community building and sustainability by embracing change, learning from others and adapting our practices.