# The Campus as a Smart City: University of Malaga Environmental, Learning, and Research Approaches
## 4 Analysis, Research, and Learning Proposals and Assessment
### Green Islands and Routes  
A green island is defined as an area situated close to the different buildings of the campus that provides solutions to the limitations of the specific center/faculty to which it belongs. It is characterized by its vegetation, energy efficiency, advanced technology, and comfort. Its purpose is to provide places to stay outdoors to study, meet, rest, etc. The main peculiarity of these places is that they are designed by students supported by the teaching, research, and operational staff of the university. The different areas suitable for adaptation as green islands have been defined across the campus, as shown in Figure 9.  
The methodology to design the green routes and islands is based on two main objectives, the first of which is to satisfy the needs of the users who use the building. To do so, the requests and suggestions of the main expected users of these installations are collected. In addition, some basic requirements are also considered--the space must be sustainable, integrated in the campus, technological, dynamic, and accessible. Secondly, the approach aims to generate a pedagogical, multidisciplinary, and cooperative process where everyone learns from designing and developing the green island. To achieve this, a call is advertised to all the university community to join the project on a voluntary basis. Students, teaching and research staff, as well as the operational staff of the university work together to design this new area based on the knowledge and experiences of each one of them. Furthermore, they have the motivation of knowing that the space they are designing will be built in the university. To reach these objectives, the development of the green islands is divided into different phases:  
1. Search for requirements and preferences: As a starting point, the users of the buildings where the green islands will be built are surveyed about their preferences and requirements. To perform this step, the survey is disseminated online through the official website of the university, social networks, as well as randomly distributed face-to-face to people who belong to the personnel and users of the buildings involved. 2. Creation of groups: Participation in the further steps of the activity is widely promoted to attract participants. Students from different disciplines (science, geography, architecture, computer science, etc.) are divided into multiple interdisciplinary teams. Supervising professors are assigned to each team in such a way that each of them has an expert in each branch of knowledge who supervises, inspires, and guides them. Furthermore, the professors are encouraged to integrate the project into their courses or as the base for a bachelor/master thesis. 3. Design: Each team is responsible for a different island or route where they compete among each other for the best designs. 4. Evaluation: A tribunal, formed by members of the Vice-Rectorate of the Smart-Campus representatives of the different faculties and participants from previous years, evaluates the different projects. The two best groups win a prize. 5. Implementation: All designed projects are built, favoring the development of the campus and the motivation of the university community since they build their own university based on their needs and knowledge. The scope of the project includes structural and architectural solutions (design of the spatial planning, climatically adequate spaces and shadow structures, and improvement of accessibility and usability), design of urban amenities based on recycled materials, monitoring and sensing system,choice of vegetation, study of the ground, and environmental parameters. Moreover, the topographic, climatic, and sustainable requirements as well as the end user's needs are taken into account. Involvement Assessment  
The following figures present the participation in this project during the course 2017/2018.