Abstract:
Why does a place feel livelier than another? How does a place hold people’s attention and presence? How does a place beget vitality? Why does a place fall into abandonment? How can it be revived? Many people idealize the level of life and vigor and growth within the student body of a university. Students create a community that breeds activity and vitality, yet a campus must not only foster a sense of community through education and maturation but capture it with enticement, engagement, and enjoyment. Utilizing the faded identity of the University of Detroit Mercy campus this thesis looks to investigate how it can be revived. First, reasons for the superficial student interaction with the campus, the lack of urban community integration, as well as the lack of spatial and programmatic interest must be revealed. All of these issues can be dealt with in the ideals of future planning, but instigating the change is a process; a process of layering opportunity, activity, necessity, community, and time (timely installations/expansion) to create and perpetuate a place of excitement and vivacity.
