Master Plan

OVERVIEW

The UMass Amherst Campus Master Plan 2012 provides a framework for capacity development for the campus going forward to 2020 and beyond to 2050. The plan established a shared vision for future development that features new open spaces; transportation and pedestrian safety; parking decks built on the edge of campus; new bike-ways; new circulation systems including pathways with striking views of the Pioneer Valley; improvements to utilities; and a strategy for reuse of historic buildings. Campus Planning held more than 90 events in 2010 - 2012 with key stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, host communities, and regional representatives – an outreach and engagement approach that was complemented by web-based surveys and applications to encourage participation.

To meet the university’s current academic and research mission, the plan located more than 1 million gross square feet of facilities over the next decade. In an effort to position the university for an unknown future, the plan also illustrated approximately 7 million additional gross square feet, creating a compact, environmentally sensitive and efficient campus. The plan adopted an approach that mixes traditional land uses around a core of facilities adjacent to the campus lawns and pond. This new pattern will encourage a creative environment that will support collaboration, co-curricular learning and research, and will help create a vibrant environment all day and throughout the year. The more "compact/urban environment" in the campus core will also support the campus’s sustainability agenda by promoting shared resources, walking, and the careful use of land. 

The Chancellor's Office engages in Strategic Planning efforts over time periods of 5 to 10 years that shape the character of UMass Amherst - what it is, what it does, and why it does it. Each Strategic Plan outlines fundamental values, goals and actions that guide decision making throughout the institution and for the development of the physical campus.  Campus Master Plan updates reflect shifts in the campus strategic direction.  If you are interested in ongoing updates related to our projects, please visit the Projects section of our website, and consider signing up to receive the UMass Community Relations Newsletter.

2024 - 2034 Strategic Plan
 
Rising to the Challenge 2018-2023

 

MASTER PLAN DOCUMENTS