Oberlin College is a national leader in both the arts and environmental sciences. The plan for the Green Arts District is to augment Oberlin's world-class reputation with facilities that bring the arts and sciences together in a way that transforms human potential and the way it is communicated. The District will be a global model for high performance buildings and whole systems thinking, maximizing the ability to build synergistic relationships between infrastructure, ecology, economy and human productivity and prosperity.

In its initial phases, the current work involved a wide variety of campus and community stakeholders aligned around a common vision and program to craft a fund-raising package capable of communicating the opportunity. Completed in early 2010, the initial planning phase sets the path for ongoing work to make the Oberlin Green Arts District a development capable of uniting the university and community around this important calling.

Five principles are outlined to guide the development: pedagogy, post-carbon economy, community, exploration and sustainablility. As a result of this work, Oberlin was selected as one of 18 projects to be a partner in the Climate Positive Development Program with the Clinton Climate Initiative and the U.S. Green Building Council.