ASU West is often assumed to be in Glendale, but it's actually within Phoenix city limits since the border between the two cities is 51st Avenue in that part of town. The campus, which was originally developed in the '80s, is a product of that era. It's suburban, isolated, and designed to be reached almost entirely via car.

Without disputing ASU West's value as an educational institution, the campus does not mesh well, if at all, with surrounding neighborhoods. It is set back from the street and partially developed from its core outward, leaving vacant land at most of the campus periphery. The campus also interrupts the bike route along 47th Avenue, which would otherwise extend from Bell Road to Grand Avenue.

Just as the City of Phoenix has partnered with ASU in the development of the Downtown campus, the City should also attempt to work with the university to make the west campus better integrated into its portion of Phoenix. Specific ideas included the following:

-- Build a bicycling path through the campus that connects to 47th Avenue at both the Thunderbird main entrance and the campus' southern end near Sweetwater Avenue. This path would make 47th Avenue a viable bike route covering a distance of nearly 10 miles along the west side of Phoenix with a connection to Glendale via the bike / ped bridge over the Arizona Canal.

-- Work with neighborhood groups to establish temporary uses of the vacant land that surrounds the campus. Farmers markets, fairs and festivals, pop-up parks, temporary public art installations, and community gardens are all examples of possible uses of this land until it is developed by ASU or sold to another party.

-- Commit to build no more surface parking on the campus. There is currently more than enough parking, and future needs can be accommodated with garages as needed, reducing the negative impacts on the urban heat island effect and the pedestrian experience that occur whenever too much land is devoted to parking lots.