The degree of the Hashemite university students’ desires, needs, and satisfaction with their campus urban design

Abstract

PurposeThe purposes of this study is to explore and describe the main campus urban design principles, to investigate and examine the degree of Hashemite University’s (HU’s) student satisfaction with the urban design of their campus, to examine the relationships between the degree of HU student satisfaction and age, gender, educational pursuits and academic year, to define and assess student needs through HU’s campus design and to examine and investigate the relationships/interrelationships between all the campus urban design principles.Design/methodology/approachThis research used a variety of methods: A face-to-face questionnaire (n = 1,443), HU students’ community board design for urban spaces, HU master plan analysis and focus group discussions (three researchers and 30 architectural students). This research used the descriptive statistics and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearson r) to analyze the data.FindingsThis research found that the majority of HU students were dissatisfied with the design of their outside spaces with regard to the effectiveness of space, availability of services, viability and vitality, public realm design, the density of activities, design character, walkability, diversity of existing services, richness, continuity and enclosure design. In contrast, they were satisfied with the accessibility and connectivity between spaces, availability of safe and welcoming spaces, mental map elements design and urban structure. Statistically, this research found that there were no significant relationships between the students’ satisfaction level and their age, gender, educational pursuits, education specialty and education level. Moreover, the correlation results revealed that the relationships/interrelationships between all the campus urban design principles have strong/very strong positive linear associations and significant relationships (r > 89).Practical implicationsThis research recommended that the urban designer and architects should adopt the bottom-up approach when they are designing and planning the campus. They should apply all the above urban design principles to achieve the flexible and dynamic campus urban design and the students’ needs. Well-designed campus creates multi-functional places for students’ activities, encourages them for socialization and enhances their academic performance and experience, increases their feeling of belonging, enhances the sense of well-being and supports outside learning activities and experiences. The objectives for the campus urban design should promote high standards and qualities of open spaces, create a sense of places, serve students’ needs, provide effective design for socialization, provide maximum flexible design to allow for future campus growth and create a safe and healthy environment to express the quality of university’s life. Finally, the students should participate actively in the developing design of their campus activity.Originality/valueTo avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, this research is essential for future HU campus design. In addition to defining and describing all the campus urban design principles, this research provides HU decision-makers with an informed, holistic view of their students’ satisfaction levels, needs and requirements within their urban campus design to develop the HU campus design. Moreover, this research provides a new vision for the future in the form of data and guidelines for a new campus design. The findings are intended to provide useful information to university managers, leaders, policymakers and urban designers who implement strategies to improve the quality of campus urban design. This research opens the door for new research by duplicating the same research contents and methodologies on another campus design within different regions and cultures to fully develop a universal guideline for campus urban design.