An-Najah National University in Palestine had decided to include the transformation towards Smart, Eco and Green University as one of the major themes in its strategic plan for 2016-2020. The paper considers the new university campus as the model for planning towards a smart and sustainable built environment. The paper considers the systems thinking approach, taking into account the connections among the various relevant components, to achieve a sustainable built environment on the scale of a university campus. The interaction among the infrastructure components, the built and natural environment, along with the socio-economic and regulatory domains, was considered. The paper presents the strategic planning framework, highlighting the strategic analysis in the fields relevant to the Smart, Eco and Green University theme, conducted through a participatory approach engaging the university professors and administrators, as well as the students. This had assisted to identify the major issues to be considered in the formulation of the university’s strategic plan related to the theme, identifying the points of strength and weakness within the internal environment, as well as the opportunities and threats within the external environment. With the most important thematic major issues identified through participatory approaches, and considering the university’s vision and mission, the relevant interventions were identified. The paper highlights the key aspects in devising the resulting strategic plan, including the action plan, and summarizes the lessons learned.

Conference Title

Expanding Boundaries Systems Thinking in the Built Environment Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) Regional Conference Zurich 2016

Conference Country

Switzerland

Conference Date

June 15, 2016 - June 17, 2016

Conference Sponsor

ETH Zurich

Additional Info

Conference Website