Land Use
How Zoning Affects Greenhouse Gas Emissions
May. 30, 2024—Climate change is a global challenge often met on a local level. Local governments shape how their communities are developed through land use controls. Their policy decisions related to housing density, location, and building standards have a profound impact on climate – buildings produce nearly 40% of U.S. carbon emissions, and personal vehicles account for...
Vanderbilt and Civic Design Center’s impact on Nashville’s urban evolution
May. 24, 2024—For over 24 years, the Civic Design Center has stood as a beacon for community-driven urban planning projects and programs. Based in downtown Nashville, this nonprofit organization draws expertise from diverse professional and academic sources, including Vanderbilt University, to engage community members in the envisioning and shaping of the city. Since its formation in 2000, the Civic...
Vanderbilt University Native Meadow flourishing with collaborative research projects
Apr. 29, 2024—Tucked behind the 6 Magnolia Building on Vanderbilt’s Peabody Campus is what might look to some like a lush garden of weeds. In reality, it’s a strategic Native Meadow full of pollinator-friendly plants. Funded by the Vanderbilt Green Fund in 2021, students proposed filling a meadow with plants native to the Tennessee/Nashville area to increase...
WATCH: 5 sustainability efforts you may not know about at Vanderbilt (Part Two)
Mar. 28, 2024—Did you know that Vanderbilt is carbon neutral? There are sustainability programs going on all over campus that contribute to continually lowering the university’s carbon footprint. Watch chemical engineering major Sarah Siman, Class of 2025, highlight five sustainability efforts at our university that you might not know about. Want to learn about five more? Watch Part...
Vanderbilt preserves history through the salvaged remains of the Bicentennial Oak
Jun. 29, 2023—The Bicentennial Oak, the only tree on Vanderbilt’s campus known to predate the founding of the university, fell in November due to age-related decay. Estimated to be about 250 years old, the bur oak was one of the most recognizable trees on campus, and it served as a landmark near Garland Hall for generations of Vanderbilt...
Sustainability, mobility and transportation efforts highlighted in FutureVU FY2022 Progress Report
May. 5, 2023—Vanderbilt University made significant progress toward its FutureVU goals in fiscal year 2022, as outlined in the annual progress report. FutureVU is a high-level, holistic framework for the development of campus’s built and exterior environments. That framework gives direction to campus projects and considers core themes such as community enhancement, connectivity, inclusion, accessibility and sustainability. Highlights from...
New Sesquicentennial Oak Tree joins Vanderbilt’s green canopy
Apr. 26, 2023—As Vanderbilt University dares to grow while observing its Sesquicentennial this year, the campus welcomes a new tree to mark the occasion. Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and members of the Vanderbilt community gathered for a small ceremony on April 24 to commemorate the planting of the Sesquicentennial Oak Tree, which is located near Garland Hall and Buttrick Hall. The tree planting follows the recent loss of the Bicentennial Oak,...
LIVING LABORATORY
Apr. 26, 2023—Educational as well as beautiful, Vanderbilt’s arboretum is 150 years in the making In March of 1873, Bishop Holland McTyeire convinced Cornelius Vanderbilt to contribute an initial $500,000 to found Vanderbilt University. By May, McTyeire had negotiated the purchase of several tracts of farmland on a small hill west of Nashville to become the campus....
Volunteers needed for pedestrian safety research on campus
Apr. 3, 2023—In partnership with design firm Gresham Smith, a team of Vanderbilt researchers from the university and medical center are deploying groundbreaking technology to increase pedestrian safety and comfort on campus. This is being accomplished using smart watches that record an individual’s heart rate while walking on and around campus. Changes in heart rate have shown...
Engineering group goes to Israel to study water recycling leader’s operations, research
Mar. 14, 2023—Engineering professors and students will spend their 2023 spring break in Israel to learn about the country’s water recycling programs and bring those lessons back to share with Sterling Ranch, a 21st century sustainable city south of Denver, Colorado, that has doubled as a training site and test bed for Vanderbilt students and professors since 2015. Sterling...