Mobility in the City and the University Campus Role: From an Outcome of Urban Anomalies to a Vector of a Sustainable Transition

Abstract

The campuses of the most recognized Brazilian universities were an outcome of the country’s modernization, which had the automotive industry as one of its most significant symbols. If the automotive industry has attracted massive public funding without much opposition, universities should provide more rigorous and systemic criticism. However, this is not the case. These universities have reproduced the cities’ idiosyncrasies, offering free parking and communicating through their campuses the cars’ predilection over pedestrians, public transportation, and the natural environment. This article aims to explore digital data from the Federal University of Santa Catarina main campus offering evidence to support deconstructing this message to their students, staff, and society towards a more sustainable and systemic approach, through a significant campus planning shift. To understand current circulation dynamics, we have investigated several university databases, such as the staff and students’ home addresses and the Wi-Fi authentication records to the Eduroam network distributed in the campus territory. 538 access points registered nearly 30,000 daily users, who generated around 2 million records every day, containing the authentication time and the access point geographic coordinate. The studies’ results illustrate mobility patterns of the academic community inside and outside the campus to support strategies to challenge the current campus planning. We conclude with a proposal for a more resilient campus based on environmental regeneration, particularly along the campus streams to connect the pedestrian entrances, stimulating inclusivity through a diversity of encounters, and promoting active mobility and public transport initiatives associated with parking shrinkage.