University campuses as sites of learning, practice and experimentation hold large potential for transforming our understanding of human-nature relations in an age of rapid climate change and biodiversity loss. Yet campus design often does not live up to principles and standards of sustainable design. To fulfill their role in societies, universities should lead by example and use the campus as a living lab where students, staff and community members can experience and experiment with blueprints of more sustainable futures. Here, we showcase a campus vision developed as part of a multispecies campus initiative for Ehime University, a regional Japanese national university located in Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku. The vision draws upon the concepts of rewilding, multispecies sustainability and edible landscape: 1) diverse multispecies interactions with more-than-human campus co-inhabitants offer opportunities for playful social learning in a cultural context where remains virtually unknown, 2) campus design seeks to meet the needs of diverse species, envisioning the campus as a space of multispecies flourishing, 3) edible landscaping offers embodied experiences from planting to care to eating with a focus on co-design and co-management by students and community — groups who currently have little to no say in campus affairs. Reimagining the campus in simple words but with a radical overhaul of the landscape aims at starting conversations, widens the scope of what futures are deemed feasible, and targets a near-future refresh of the 2016 campus master plan.
Recommended Citation
Yoshida, Aoi and Rupprecht, Christoph D. D.
(2025)
"Multispecies Edible Landscape Design: A Rewilding-Inspired Sustainable Campus Vision for Ehime University, Japan,"
Cities and the Environment (CATE):
Vol. 18:
Iss.
1, Article 5.
DOI: 10.15365/cate.2025.180105
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cate/vol18/iss1/5
DOI
10.15365/cate.2025.180105
