Belgian universities and colleges are currently experiencing a turning point. The exponential growth in student numbers in certain programmes and the general need to renovate or replace existing, outdated buildings are leading to a striking number of construction plans. These give rise to critical reflection on existing and future heritage on the basis of master plans, feasibility studies and research. The central question here is threefold. It is not only a question of which buildings we need for education and research or how architecture can support the functioning of an institution. Another fundamental question is where this building should be located in order to optimise creativity and innovation, and above all: what kind of city do we want to create and how can a campus actively contribute to this?

Universities experienced their first major wave of expansion in the middle of the last century due to the democratisation of education after the Second World War. One of the best-known urban planning responses to this was the campus as an island far outside the city, based on the American model, rooted in a modernist framework with a fundamentally anti-urban motive. Now that we have passed the peak of a new century and fully realise that we cannot avoid ecological, social and economic challenges, our image of the campus associated with higher education is also changing. Monotonous functional neighbourhoods, based on a fragmented modernist zoning practice, are difficult to reconcile with the call for multifunctionality, overlapping use of hybrid contexts and 24-hour urbanity. In densely populated Belgium, we cannot afford to think about space in terms of singular functionality. This model also seems outdated from an educational point of view. The campus as a secluded place far outside the city stands in stark contrast to the need for networking among universities, the exchange of inspiration and knowledge that takes place daily between students and the city, and the closer interweaving of the professional field, research and education through spin-offs, lifelong learning, practical internships, further education, and so on.