Tennessee really is a university situated in a picturesque river bend. It just has no idea that's what it is.
Our venerable university started on The Hill [1]. This is, if one had never visited UT, what you'd be lead to believe the whole campus looks like by the websites and promotional materials. It is, perhaps, the University's best planned and designed area.
Unfortunately, the next 150 years of expansion didn't fare so well.
Situated against downtown Knoxville, the university had no choice but to expand west. An entire riverside Victorian neighborhood the size of Fort Sanders was bulldozed in the 20th century and relatively low density high rise buildings took its place [2]. Bits and pieces of the old neighborhood- the occasional house, Aconda Court- survived until very recently. The only survivors now left are the row of houses with campus ministries and Hopecote.
The campus expanded northward also, occupying the first block of the Fort Sanders neighborhood [3]. Recently a renewed push has begun, buying a private apartment block and threatening Victorian homes on White Ave. (more on this in a bit).
Pushing further west, the Presidential Courtyard sub-campus [4] area and the Fraternity Park / Athletics Compound areas [5] expanded the campus until it ran up against a major railroad line [red line].
Across the railroad and Third Creek, the Agriculture Campus [6] sat relatively isolated from everything else until Andy Holt Blvd. bridged across the creek a decade ago. The new Sorority Village sits to the north [7] cut off by Alcoa Highway.
In a separate river bend, the University Medical Center occupies a bluff looking back to the main campus [8] and an agriculture station [9] and new research campus [10] fill the rest of the bend.
The question now is: how to intelligently expand as room is running out? I think the answer is to look holistically at our river bend.
As the map above shows, a form starts to become apparent- bound by the river to the south and Cumberland Ave. to the north. As one sees the form, some glaring gaps also become apparent.
The rapidly vanishing nameless neighborhood, which I will call here the Lake Ave. Neighborhood [orange striped area], is one gap. The university has long owned houses there that they shoehorn offices into, often tearing them down and making tiny parking lots when upkeep becomes too expensive. As much as I'd like to preserve the Lake Ave. Neighborhood, I think UT should make comprehensive plans to utilize this area intelligently and incorporate it holistically into the campus. This is vastly preferential to the recent incursions into Fort Sanders.
Another chance is slipping away- Third Creek could have been a beautiful asset to the campus. The City realized its value with the greenway, and now Walmart has seen a profitable chance with the old Foundry site [blue area], all while the university was blind to it. We do have the underappreciated UT Botanical Gardens, though, by the mouth of the creek.
Across Third Creek from the Gardens lies UT's greatest opportunity. This area is the heart of the river bend, yet is seemingly never thought of by university planners. When you look at the bend as a whole, I think it becomes obvious.
Beautiful views of the forested bluffs across the river dominate the area. And what it there to take advatage of these views? A concrete plant. A KUB water treatment plant. Warehouses. Its actually a pretty embarrassing stretch of our greenway system. This is a huge area completely surrounded by the campus, but UT continues to look to the north for expansion. This is where the university needs to go.
It wouldn't happen overnight. Industry would need to be relocated (a precedent is being set by Holston Gases upriver), bridges would have to built over the railway [blue lines]. The KUB station, the most difficult proposition, would have to be negotiated and phased out as the facility ages, or intelligently incorporated and condensed.
It wouldn't be easy. Which is why, I suppose, UT finds it better to beat up on small property owners in Fort Sanders. I say: use those almighty political powers intelligently, UT... push south to the river, fill up your river bend.
