New York University
PAE-2: Strategic Plan

NYU Sustainability Task Force Annual report for 2007-2008 includes an environmental assessment that strives to utilize data to fully understand environmental impacts, set realistic goals that make the most of the resources invested in sustainability, and enable NYU to track sustainability progress over time.

NYU 2031, a citywide strategy for how to provide the physical space needed for NYU’s long-range academic goals, NYU 2031 establishes guidelines for how the University will select sites in its neighborhood, prioritizing reuse of existing buildings; choosing sites more carefully based on appropriate use, scale, and potential for overconcentration; and improving building design and context when new construction is necessary. NYU’s goal is to relieve pressure on its surrounding areas and to employ a more thoughtful approach to determining locations, and their treatment and uses. The NYU Sustainability Task Force Annual report develops projects and recommendations that change campus culture to strengthen NYU and surrounding community members’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior related to sustainability. NYU 2031 outlines a strategy for locating as much as six million square feet over a 25-year period—two-thirds for academic space and student services, and one-third for affordable housing for faculty as well as housing for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. More information can be found at the following links: www.nyu.edu/nyu2031/nyuinnyc/growth/the-plan.php# http://www.nyu.edu/nyu2031/nyuinnyc/overview/in-summary.php

NYU has recognized the triple bottom line model for sustainability, invoking not only ecological but social and economic justice issues in engaging the community. As noted in the STARS governance section, NYU has aggressively pursued programs for community service, student aid, and worker benefits, among other efforts to create a more just campus. Beyond our borders, NYU 2031 intends to make the university’s plans for growth more predictable, coherent, and ecologically sound, while also considering the community, the neighborhoods, and the city upon which it depends. The Task Force has been structured to advance social justice goals, through diverse leadership that gives a voice to every constituency on campus, and has itself raised the issue that social and economic justice have not received sufficient attention as part of the sustainability initiative writ large. The Task Force has launched an effort to engage the University community in a broader conversation on social and economic justice, specifically as they pertain to sustainability in higher education, so that NYU can move beyond its considerable green achievements and create the just and prosperous world of the future.