Pitt’s Approach to Campus Planning

There are many ways to describe the University of Pittsburgh: academic leader, research powerhouse, innovator, economic driver and community partner. 

The draft of our campus master plan is designed to advance our aspirations on all of these fronts while realizing our full potential as a world-class university.      

The framework for our planning includes three key components. These are:     

Campus Integration

Our framework must capitalize on and integrate the Pittsburgh campus’s unique characteristics:

  • Relatively compact campus
  • Health sciences adjacent to world-class medical center
  • Vibrant urban setting in a booming tech & innovation city 

As such, our campus planning must integrate enhancements to support student life, find innovative ways to improve mobility to connect key functions and leverage our unique setting to encourage collaboration between teaching, research, and clinical work.

Engagement/Collaboration

We began this planning process understanding that any comprehensive plan would need input from and collaboration with our campus community and our neighbors.

In summer 2017, we began interviews and workshops with contributors, collaborators and leaders. This included community organizations, neighbors, elected officials, business and non-profit partners, as well as Pitt students, faculty and staff.

Guiding Principles

After a year of engagement, we arrived at five goals that planning needed to address to bring Pitt forward into the future. These goals are:

  • Enriching student experience
  • Support academic excellence and innovation
  • Distinctive, welcoming and attractive urban campus
  • More connected, outward looking, engaged university
  • Place that seeks synergy and efficiency