The 15-MinuteCampus: Exploring the Potential Impacts on Biodiversity, Health and Wellbeing of Co-Creating 15-Minute City Design Principles on University Campuses

Sara, Rachel and Albans, Alex and Rice, Louis (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. ISSN 2673-8945

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Abstract

Imagine picking up an e-scooter or e-bike from a charging dock on campus that combines solar panels with a filtered rainwater refill fountain, a mobile phone charging point, climbing plants, and insect habitats. What if the space also offered composting for food waste, shelter from the rain, and a space to meet friends—open to all to support the university’s civic role in the wider city? This paper explores the ideas affecting biodiversity, health, and wellbeing of co-created design explorations of 15-minute city principles on university campuses. Originating from urban planning, the 15-minute city proposes that essential needs like education, healthcare, work, and leisure are accessible by active travel. Applied to a university campus, it means students and staff can access classrooms, housing, food, and recreation in just 15 minutes. Beyond convenience, this approach is argued to foster inclusive, mixed-use, and potentially ecologically regenerative spaces. Drawing on regenerative design thinking—which aims to restore and co-evolve human and natural systems—this participatory design research critically responds to top-down models by involving students and university stakeholders in co-creating visions for a 15-minute campus. The results show that through this participatory design process, cocreators contributed to shaping ideas that foster belonging, emotional attachment, and co-responsibility for place. The research concludes by proposing an innovative reorientation of the 15-minute-city—from a model concerned primarily with needs and efficiency, to one grounded in ecological consciousness, autonomy, and human–nature co-evolution.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.3390/architecture5030082
Dates:	Date Event 7 September 2025 Accepted 10 September 2025 Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords:	15-minute-city, regenerative design, campus architecture, co-design, participatory design, health, wellbeing, biodiversity, architecture
Subjects:	CAH13 - architecture, building and planning > CAH13-01 - architecture, building and planning > CAH13-01-01 - architecture
Divisions:	Architecture, Built Environment, Computing and Engineering > Architecture and Built Environment > Architecture
Depositing User:	Gemma Tonks
Date Deposited:	20 Jan 2026 14:02
Last Modified:	20 Jan 2026 14:02
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16817

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