India Is Building Campuses While the World Goes Digital
Now That Information Is Free, What's a College Campus For?
As technology makes learning cheaper and place-independent, conventional wisdom says the physical campus is redundant. India is doing the opposite: building more universities and attracting foreign institutions to serve its 43 million higher education students. The real story isn't scale but purpose—campuses designed for belonging, mentorship, wellbeing, and serendipity, not just information delivery. Gensler's IILM projects in Delhi show how libraries, recreation, and adaptable spaces are being reimagined as infrastructure for community and resilience.
If a campus can no longer justify itself as the most efficient way to deliver information, it has to justify itself as something technology cannot replicate: a place built around belonging, mentorship, wellbeing, identity, and serendipity.