The Campus Landscape Master Plan (CLMP) is a vision for a greener, more resilient campus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Shaped by public input, it aims to create multi-functional outdoor spaces that not only foster collaboration, celebration, and gathering but are also welcoming, safe, and easy to maintain.
The plan focuses on sustainability, preserving the university’s history, supporting biodiversity, and helping Illinois meet its Climate Leadership Commitments. It also seeks to define and strengthen the university’s identity.
The CLMP will also provide greater specificity for the future actions that will shape landscape aesthetics, functionality, legacy, and best management practices by:
- Contributing to carbon neutrality efforts
- Developing more living learning laboratory
experiences - Creating outdoor gathering areas
- Enhancing passive recreation
- Managing storm-water and green infrastructure
- Supporting pollinators
- Expanding community health and wellness resources
- Building greater resilience to climate change
Achieving this vision will take decades of phased investments. The CLMP suggests campus-wide exterior improvements, including updates to key areas, like the Main Quad and Military Axis, pending approval before projects begin. It also proposes policy and funding changes, such as hiring more maintenance staff, training, and developing new funding strategies to ensure long-term success and sustainable implementation.
Setting Goals
There are 14 goals to the plan:
- Care for historic assets and invest in the existing landscape
- Reflect the indigenous Midwest across all campus landscapes
- Maximize innovation potential within the campus landscape
- Create more opportunities for mental health and well-being areas on campus
- Connect campus to the larger ecological context
- Position the landscape as a living laboratory
- Celebrate the culture, achievements and interests of current and past students
- Create a clear path to landscape investment for the next 50-75 years
- Reinforce the campus brand
- Apply a universal design approach to all campus landscape spaces
- Elevate maintenance capabilities
- Highlight sustainability as a core value of the university landscape
- Become a world leader in rainwater management
- Increase tree canopy across campus
Prototype Projects and Sustainability Goals
The Campus Master Plan (CMP) defines 11 districts across the campus to serve as a framework for planning purposes. The Campus Landscape Master Plan (CLMP) also sets goals and strategies for the entire campus landscape while using the district framework to guide specific areas.
Within each district, the CLMP showcases landscape goals and strategies through a prototype project. These projects are selected for their ability to meet visionary goals and address stakeholder concerns and aspirations. The prototype projects range in terms of priority for implementation.
A 13-member Core Planning Committee, with input from stakeholders, developed eight core principles for the CLMP. The Campus Landscape Master Plan will be deemed successful if it defines a shared vision for a sustainable campus landscape, honors the legacy of the historic landscape design, and implements strategies that value rainwater as a precious resource, amongst other principles.
Interviews with 106 participants highlighted the critical role of campus landscape in Illinois’ success, influencing student decisions, mental health, and sustainability goals. Priorities included fixing maintenance issues, creating sustainable spaces, and designing outdoor areas that support gathering, studying, and technology integration to enhance campus functionality and appeal.
A District-Based Approach
The CLMP is organized into 11 districts, each designed to address specific campus needs and guide future development. These 11 districts include:
- Main Quad
- South Quad
- Engineering Quad
- Urban Campus
- Urban Town/Gown
- Arts Quad
- Ikenberry Quad
- Athletics
- Research Park
- Agriculture
- Industrial
The CLMP establishes goals for campus evolution, sustainability, and innovation based on prior planning and stakeholder input. Achieving these requires changes in practices, funding, and staffing.
There are 14 landscape goals, including caring for historic assets, investing in the existing landscape, reflecting the Indigenous Midwest across all campus landscapes, and creating more opportunities for mental health and well-being on campus, among others.
Advancing Sustainability Through Campus Landscaping
The landscape goals reflect the values of the campus community and guide future development. Prototype projects show how these goals are applied in specific areas, but all campus landscapes should integrate these values long-term.
The prototype projects were chosen to support key goals like sustainability, honoring history, and promoting mental health. They are conceptual and will go through a formal design process before implementation, with a focus on enhancing existing campus assets and creating a cohesive campus environment.
To better understand the impacts of the proposed prototypes and their ability to achieve the iCAP targets, the following metrics were estimated. These are intended to provide a high-level estimate of the impacts of the recommendations.
- Rainwater Storage: The prototypes will treat approximately 18.62 acre-feet of water through permeable pavers and bioretention areas.
- Tree Canopy: The campus aims to add 3,070 trees by 2030, with 2,000 coming from the prototypes.
- Pollinator Planting: The prototypes will add 4.2 acres of pollinator-friendly landscaping, increasing the area by 20%.
The Campus Landscape Master Plan represents a bold vision for the future of the University, one that integrates sustainability, historical preservation, and community well-being. By focusing on long-term goals and phased improvements, this plan aims to create a campus environment that is not only beautiful and functional but also resilient and forward-thinking.
The CLMP ensures that future generations of students, faculty, and visitors experience a campus that fosters growth, collaboration, and connection with nature.