Context of the Project at Cornell

Cornell University is a private endowed University, and the federal land grant institution of New York State, with a total population of approximately 30,000 faculty, students and staff.  The Ithaca campus is characterized by its unique topography and natural beauty, and includes several natural areas, a historic district and national, state and local landmarks.  The main campus extends over at least four major home communities – the City of Ithaca, the Town of Ithaca, the Village of Cayuga Heights and the Town of Dryden, that surround it and abut it closely.  Over the last century, both the University campus and its home communities have expanded in their population, amenities, and infrastructure.  The nature of these adjacencies varies, from dense residential urban neighborhoods and historic districts to the west, south-west and north-west and north-east, to suburban and semi-rural residential communities at the northern, eastern and southern edges of the main campus.  Both sets of development demand that we look inward as well as outward as we plan for the future.