{"id":217579,"date":"2026-03-24T04:20:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T04:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/217579\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T04:20:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T04:20:06","slug":"ut-to-gather-input-in-coming-weeks-for-campus-master-plan-the-daily-texan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/217579\/","title":{"rendered":"UT to gather input in coming weeks for Campus Master Plan \u2013 The Daily Texan"},"content":{"rendered":"

UT will begin gathering input on April 1 for a master plan that will guide the University\u2019s development for the next decade.<\/p>\n

The Campus Master Plan, announced Feb. 23, will offer a framework for UT\u2019s land use and infrastructure development over the next 10 years. It will extend to entities beyond the Forty Acres, like the J.J. Pickle Research Campus and the planned UT Medical Center, uniting development across UT-owned entities.<\/p>\n

Previous master plans proposed pedestrianizing Speedway, which occurred in 2016, and restoring Waller Creek, which finished in 2017. The UT System Board of Regents recommends these plans be updated every decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

University architect Brent Stringfellow said the Campus Master Plan will act as a \u201cliving document\u201d that Campus Operations and Planning, a UT department that handles University landscaping, planning and utilities management, can use to test development ideas against.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is that it is built as a model that can continuously adapt as decisions are made,\u201d Stringfellow said. \u201c(The plan) would allow us to understand what would be the repercussions of (those changes) in terms of both what the campus experience would be, but also how much would it cost.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Campus Operations and Planning is looking at an 18-month process that will be split into two phases: information gathering and preparation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the information-gathering phase, which will last until June, Campus Operations will monitor building conditions, usage and foot traffic, which will inform the plan\u2019s creation, Stringfellow said. Campus Operations will also hold tabling events and surveys featuring interactive maps to get direct input from students and staff, and people can give input via a \u201cget involved\u201d page<\/a> on the Campus Master Plan website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The plan will then enter the preparation stage, which Stringfellow said will last around a year, ending in June 2027. This stage is dedicated to identifying future space needs, establishing new design standards and developing comprehensive plans around research facilities and mobility, according to the plan\u2019s website. The plan will then be sent to the UT System Board of Regents for approval.<\/p>\n

Stringfellow said the plan may be impacted by ongoing organizational changes across the University.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny organizational aspects of the University will inform the plan,\u201d Stringfellow said. \u201cSo that has to do with things like, where are different classes taught, where different departments (are) located, what type of space do they need?\u201d<\/p>\n

UT is working with Sasaki Associates, an architecture and design firm that previously developed UT\u2019s 2012 Campus Master Plan and 2013 Medical District Master Plan.<\/p>\n

David Vanden Bout, dean of the College of Natural Sciences, serves as chair of the Master Planning Steering Committee, a body of UT officials who regularly meet with the architecture firm.<\/p>\n

Vanden Bout, who has worked at UT for over 28 years, said he is excited to think about creating a greater sense of place on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s critical for us to be able to use resources as well as we should, so that we\u2019re not going back and trying to undo and change things,\u201d Vanden Bout said. \u201cAnd then we have a big, giant building where we didn\u2019t actually want one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UT will begin gathering input on April 1 for a master plan that will guide the University\u2019s development…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-217579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}