You mean the ones pushed to the extreme limit of main campus. How long a walk is that exactly? How functional are they compared to similar spaces closer to where most people live and go to class? In fact Mirror lake is a perfect example of what's wrong with the layout. It's appearance over function. Benefiting those driving by more than people living on campus.
The fact that Hunting Lodge and 32 aren't near campus is problem one. They should be the defacto borders, Uconn should control and develop everything everything withing the 195/44/275/32 boundary. If the intent is 30k students, the only alternative is to crowd those extra people in the current space or across 195. Both of those only make the campus experience work.
I wouldn't expect you to be able to view campus with at critical eye, but from a pro perspective Storrs is a mess.
HAHAHAHAHAHA "extreme limit".... just look at a map. You're just making stuff up here, indicative of someone who has never stepped foot on campus.
You can walk from North to South in 15 minutes at a casual pace. Almost all of what constitutes the campus falls somewhere between the two. So, from either end of campus, you're really no more than a 10 minute walk to wherever you need to be more proximal to the center. The shuttle system has also been updated.
Great Lawn is across from East, and has major academic buildings on top of it.
Mirror Lake is across from Buckley, Shippee, South, and the new apartments going up in the Storrs Center, not to mention Arjona and Monteith, the only two buildings you're pretty much guaranteed to have a t least a couple classes in through your time at UConn. Many many people use it and it gives that "campus feel" that is mentioned; something that lets you know that you're at UConn, just like the Great Lawn and Horsebarn.
The quad between Beach and CLAS has massive pedestrian traffic going by it every day and is directly adjacent to not only Beach and CLAS but also the new Nursing building and Wilbur Cross. Events are held there during the year, such as the Parent Weekend cookout.
Swan Lake is another staple of the campus and is situated next to the Chem building and is a literal stone's throw away from the Nursing/CLAS/Beach area.
North and South quads as well as the space behind the LIBRARY and STUDENT UNION obviously require no discussion.
These already are places by where people live and go to class, and are highly functional. The unfortunate thing is that UConn's weather really only permits full enjoyment of these areas for a couple months out of the academic year. In my experience, by mid-October it's already getting chilly, and things don't really dry up and get warm until April.
Yeah and that's what they're doing...trying to expand to 44, and going in to heavy detail on the parking situation. It's just what you mention is not a relevant problem now.